Sox earn chance to defend State title
EDITOR’S NOTE: Because the look back at each day in Bryant athletic history has been so favorably received during the time when there was no sports during the COVID-19 shutdown, BryantDaily.com will continueposting past stories of Bryant athletics either posted on BryantDaily.com (from 2009 to the present) or published in the Bryant Times (from 1998 to 2008).
With their season on the line, the Bryant Black Sox Senior American Legion team bounced back from a 7-1 loss to the Little Rock Post 1 Vipers and qualified for the State Tournament with a 10-0 win that ended the bid of rival Benton Everett Buick GMC on Saturday at Bryant High School Field.
The Sox, now 35-8-1, will play the Vipers again on Sunday at 2 p.m., to determine seeding between the two qualifiers from Area 3. If Bryant wins, they’ll play against for the tourney championship and the top seed for State, which will be played at Hendrix College in Conway next weekend.
Bryant 10, Benton 0
Moments after Benton eliminated Searcy, 12-2, the two Saline County rivals squared off for a trip to State in the losers bracket final.
Logan Grant followed up Myers Buck’s shutout work on the mound (in an 8-0 win over Benton on Friday) with four scoreless innings, limited Benton to two hits. Logan Catton closed out the victory, pitching around a single in the top of the fifth.
Grant fanned seven and walked three.
Meanwhile, the Sox hammered 10 hits and scored crooked numbers in each of the first three frames. The top three in the Bryant order, Logan Chambers, Jake Wright and Cade Drennan combined to go 6 for 9 with five runs scored and five driven in. They had consecutive run-scoring doubles in the third.
Grant allowed just one base-runner in the first two innings. Benton’s Austin Bull walked with two down in the second.
That allowed the Sox to build a 7-0 lead.
In the first, Chambers singled, stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. He scored when Drennan grounded out to short.
Benton appeared to be out of the inning, but an error allowed Buck to second. Scott Schmidt dumped a hit down the right-field line to bring him home, making it 2-0.
In the second, Catton was hit by a pitch and Coby Greiner sacrificed him to second. Chambers grounded to second and Catton reached third. With two down, Wright came through in the clutch as Schmidt had, belting a double down the right-field line to make it 3-0.
Buck beat out an infield hit to chase in Wright and send Drennan to third.
When Buck took off for second, he drew a wild throw, which allowed Drennan to score with ease, making it 5-0.
Schmidt’s grounder to third resulted in a throw to first that pulled the first baseman off the bag, keeping the inning alive for Matthew Sandidge who delivered an RBI single to make it 6-0.
Sandidge took off from first and got in a rundown. He was able to stay in it long enough for Schmidt to score the seventh run.
Benton managed its first hit with two away in the third. Braden Cardin singled up the middle then, on an errant pickoff throw to first, wound up at third.
But Grant got J-Red Kelly to ground out to Schmidt at second to end the threat.
Peyton Dillon parachuted in a single to center then Kelly, the Benton starter, retired the next two. A wild pitch along the way had Dillon at second then he took third on Greiner’s groundout. Chambers belted a double just inside the line at first to get him home.
That’s when Wright and Drennan each cracked doubles as the lead grew to 10-0, run-rule territory.
Benton threatened to get on the board in the fourth. Beau Brewer opened the inning with a solid single to left. Logan Black drew a walk then Grant struck out Westyn Buchanon. A walk to Bull loaded the bases but the Bryant right-hander preserved the shutout by fanning Logan Gartin and Luke Weaver.
Catton needed just 12 pitches to get through the fifth.
Ozzie Hurt was the acting manager for the game in the stead of his dad, Darren.
Little Rock 7, Bryant 1
Right-hander Jordan Graham, who pitched at LaBette Community College in Kansas this spring, shut down the Sox on just five hits as the Vipers punched their ticket to Conway. He fanned five and walked three.
Meanwhile, the Sox were so upset about the umpire’s strike zone, they wound up issuing 11 walks and the Vipers took advantage with 10 hits including a game-clinching two-run homer by Shelby Quiggans.
Bryant hurler Will McEntire battled through much of the adversity, keeping Little Rock shut out through four innings.
Along the way, Bryant manager Darren Hurt was ejected arguing about a strike that was called to end the inning in which the Sox got their run had appeared to have more in them.
McEntire had worked around a pair of walks in each of the first two innings. In the first, he induced a groundball to Chambers at short, who started an inning-ending doubleplay. In the second, Wright, the Bryant catcher, threw out the lead runner, Kyle Clayton, when he tried to steal third. McEntire struck out Grayson Troutman to keep it scoreless.
In the third, Andrew McDonald and Nick Jones had singles for Little Rock but McEntire got River Hunt to fly to left to end the threat.
Bryant had been held without a base-runner through seven batters. With one out in the bottom of the third, Catton drew a walk and Greiner ripped a single up the middle. Chambers followed with a bloop single to left to give the Sox a 1-0 lead.
Wright flew to right then Drennan worked a 3-1 count and was a third of the way down the first-base line when the fifth pitch of the at-bat was called a strike. A 3-2 curve from Graham struck him out.
Between innings, the plate umpire went to his cooler near the Bryant dugout to get a drink and towel off in the 96-degree heat. And it got much hotter.
In the fourth, Clayton singled then Quiggans beat out a bunt hit. McEntire struck out Howard but a bunt hit by Troutman loaded the bases. Still, McEntire held forth. He fanned McDonald and got Ryan Lumpkin to pop to Catton at third to keep it 1-0.
Grant singled to start the home fourth, went to second on a wild pitch and stole third but Graham forced the Sox to strand him there and Vipers gained back some momentum.
With one out in the top of the fifth, Jones singled, and, on a 3-2 count, Hunt walked. Clayton shot a single over the head of Catton at third and the game was tied.
Boston Heil, who had finished up the win on Friday in efficient fashion was called upon to relieve with runners at second and third. But he struggled with the zone, walking all three batters he faced as Little Rock took a 3-1 lead before Greiner came in and induced a comebacker by McDonald that produced a 1-2-3 doubleplay to send it to the sixth.
The Sox threatened again but just couldn’t get the clutch hit they needed. With one out, Buck was drilled by an 0-2 pitch. Schmidt singled to right and, with two away, Catton drew a walk to load the bases.
But Graham ended the inning with a strikeout.
Lumpkin led off the sixth with a double. Michael Coven got a sacrifice bunt down but when Dillon, the Bryant first baseman got to the ball, he slipped down as he turned to throw to first. Coven was safe, and runners were at first and third.
Jones delivered a sacrifice fly to make it 4-1. Hunt’s humpback liner to left plated another tally to make it 5-1.
Greiner fanned Clayton then, in order to keep his pitch-count down, was relieved by Dillon. The count went to 3-1 before Quiggans unloaded to right.
Dillon got out of the inning then pitched into the seventh before giving way to Konnor Clontz who ended the seventh.
Graham walked Wright in the bottom of the seventh but the Vipers ended the game with a doubleplay.
