Sox ease to victory in State opener; Mountain Home, Jonesboro, Texarkana win
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).
Photos by Kevin Nagle
More commonly considered is the pressure a full-court defense can create in basketball or a blitz on the quarterback in football; a rip-and-run style on the court and the pressure a deep threat puts on a secondary.
Bryant’s Trevor Ezell slides into third with one of his two triples, part of a four-hit night for him. (Photo by Kevin Nagle)
But there is also pressure that can be applied in baseball. There’s the pressure of hitters putting the ball in play or of a pitcher pounding the zone with a variety of pitches that leave a batter wondering what’s coming next. There’s also the kind of pressure that can be applied by a team with speed that runs the bases aggressively, just daring the defense to make a play.
The Bryant Black Sox have shown a knack for doing all of those things during the Senior American Legion season. They are major components in the Sox’ 37-4 campaign coming into the 2014 Senior State Tournament at Bryant High School Field.
And they continued to be as Bryant opened the tourney with a 12-2 win over the North Little Rock Colts, in which they struck for five runs right away and never looked back.
Shortstop Trevor Ezell went 4 for 5 with two triples, a double and a single, three runs scored and another batted in to lead the way. Chase Tucker, Hayden Lessenberry and Justin Emmerling each added two hits and two runs batted in each.
Bryant’s Nate Rutherford, Devin Dupree and Austin Caldwell combined to shut out the Colts on two hits over the first six innings. They scored a pair of unearned runs in the seventh but Dalton Holt, the fourth Sox hurler fanned two as he closed out the game with the run-rule still intact.
Brandan Warner singled in a run in the five-run first for Bryant. (Photo by Kevin Nagle)
Bryant, in quest of a State title after barely being denied last summer, will take on the Jonesboro Ricemen today at around 7 p.m., in one of the winners’ bracket games. In the other, defending State champion Texarkana will take on Mountain Home Lockeroom at 4.
Elimination games will start at 10 a.m., when Jacksonville Gwatney Chevrolet takes on Cabot Centennial Bank. That will be followed by Fort Smith Kerwins tangling with North Little Rock at around 1 p.m.
In Saturday’s other first-round contests, Mountain Home defeated Jacksonville 9-3; Jonesboro won a 10-9 thriller over Fort Smith; and Texarkana edged Cabot, 3-1.
As the visiting team on their home field, the Sox broke out to their 5-0 lead against North Little Rock starter Jack Thomas. Ezell smacked the third pitch of the game to the base of the wall in center field, nearly 400 feet away, for his first triple. Drew Tipton’s sacrifice fly made it 1-0.
Chase Tucker gets the ball into the infield after chasing down a hit in left-center. (Photo by Kevin Nagle)
Tucker, Lessenberry, Blake Patterson and Brandan Warner cracked singles in succession as the lead grew to 3-0. With two down, Emmerling ripped a 1-1 delivery into the corner in left for a two-run double.
Bryant made it 6-0 when Ezell unloaded on the second pitch of the second inning for his second triple. Tucker’s infield hit brought him in.
Meanwhile, Rutherford shackled the Colts on one hit, allowing just two base-runners over his three-inning stint on the mound. Michael Knight doubled with two out in the first and was stranded. In the third, Jovani Gonzalez was hit by a pitch but retired when Rutherford snatched a one-hopper back to the mound and fired to second to start a doubleplay.
In the fourth, Korey Thompson lined a single to left-center as the Sox revved up the offense again. Ezell singled to center and Tipton beat out a bunt to load the bases for Tucker. A walk forced in a run then Lessenberry lined an opposite-field single to right. Ezell scored and when Tipton followed, the throw from right got past Gonzalez, the Colts’ catcher. Thomas, backing up the play, got to the ball as Tucker made a dash for the plate. Thomas’ throw was errant and not only did Tucker score but Lessenberry wound up at third.
Lefty Evan Johnson relieved for the Colts at that point. His team trailing 10-0, he issued a walk to Patterson. Warner followed with a hot liner but it went right at Will Hopkins at second. Holt picked up an RBI when his grounder to short resulted in a force at second but a wild relay to first allowed Holt to get to second as Lessenberry scored, making it 11-0.
Dupree relieved in the bottom of the fourth and retired six of the seven batters he faced over two innings. A bloop single by Zach Rathbun with one out in the fifth was the only base-runner the right-hander would surrender.
Dalton Holt draws a bead on a flyball to right as teammate Korey Thompson (1) hustles out to help if needed. (Photo by Kevin Nagle)
Sox manager Darren Hurt subsequently got an inning of work for Caldwell and another for Holt.
Bryant tacked on in the top of the seventh and, as it turned out, that kept it a run-rule difference despite the Colts’ mini-rally in the home seventh. Ezell doubled in the Sox’ final run after Emmerling had singled and Thompson walked.
Holt struck out the first batter he faced but Dylan Huckaby singled and Rathbun was hit by a pitch. River Wanock reached on an error to load the bases and Gonzalez got a pop to drop in shallow right to produce the first Colts’ run. The second scored when Jack Partlow grounded into a 3-6 force.
A strikeout of Justin Weigle ended the game.
Mountain Home 9, Jacksonville 3
The middle of the Mountain Home lineup, Austin Gardner, Kyle Stevens and Hayden Hall combined to go 7 of 11 in the game. Stevens, who was 3 for 3, drove in a pair and Hall knocked in three.
Jacksonville’s Blake Perry and James Tucker each had two hits. Tucker drove in two of the runs with a first-inning double.
Lefty Mason Smith went the distance on the mound for Mountain Home, fanning five, walking four and hitting a batter while scattering five hits.
Mountain Home took a 3-0 lead in the first but Jacksonville countered with two in the home half. Both left runners at second and third.
It stayed 3-2 until Mountain Home scored three times on four hits including doubles by Gardner, Hall and Brody Ninemier.
Jacksonville got one run back in the bottom of the fifth but could get no more the rest of the game. Mountain Home tacked on two in the seventh and another in the ninth.
Jonesboro 10, Fort Smith 9
With two runs in the top of the ninth, Jonesboro took a 10-8 lead. Fort Smith rallied for a run in the bottom of the inning and had runners at first and third when Jonesboro reliever Tyler Cole ended it by inducing a grounder to second.
For Jonesboro, Mason Gibson went 4 for 6 with four runs batted in, including two on a first-inning homer.
Tucker Hydrick, Dillon Groves, Nick Brown, Austin Martin and Nic Bearce each had two hits for the Ricemen. Hydrick knocked in three and Groves two.
Fort Smith was paced by Hunter Wilson, Drew Person, Jordan Lawrence and Jake Herrell with two hits each.
The two teams combined for 27 hits.
Hydrick came through with two out in the top of the ninth to single in a pair of runs for what proved to be the difference.
After Jonesboro took the early lead on Gibson’s blast, Fort Smith scored a run in the second and three in the third to grab a 4-2 lead. Jonesboro countered with four in the fourth with the big blow a two-run double by Groves.
Wilson’s triple helped Fort Smith pull even 6-6 in the home fourth. Jonesboro snapped the tie on an RBI single by Bearce in the top of the fifth.
Back came Kerwins with two in the home fifth to make it 8-7.
Things settled down after that as Hayden Harvey (for Fort Smith) and Cole quieted the bats. In the eighth, however, a clutch, two-out RBI double by Gibson tied it.
Texarkana 3, Cabot 1
Right-hander Zac Herrington went the distance for the Razorbacks, scattering nine hits while walking three, hitting three and striking out three. He and the Texarkana defense forced Cabot to strand 13 base-runners.
Texarkana took a 2-0 lead in the second when Landon Russo doubled, Nick Myers singled, Cabot pitcher Lee Sullivan balked in a run then Nathan Stubber doubled in another.
Cabot got on the board in the fifth when Connor Vocque walked, stole second, reached third on Adam Hicks’ groundout and scored on Landon James’ sacrifice fly.
That ground, in fact, was the only time Texarkana was able to retire Hicks, who was 4 for 5 in the game. James had two hits.
For Texarkana, Jake Alexander legged out a pair of infield hits and Myers went 2 for 3.
The Razorbacks used a trio of Cabot errors to tack on a run in the bottom of the eight. Harrington worked around a lead-off single by Hicks in the top of the ninth to finish it after he’d throw 136 pitches.
BRYANT 12, NORTH LITTLE ROCK 2
Black Sox ab r h bi Colts ab r h bi
Ezell, ss 5 3 4 1 Weigle, ss 3 0 0 0
Tipton, lf 4 1 1 1 Hopkins, 2b 3 0 0 0
Tucker, cf 4 2 2 2 Knight, 3b 3 0 1 0
Lessenberry, c 3 2 2 2 Flowers, 1b 3 0 0 0
Phillips, c 0 0 0 0 Huckaby, cf 3 1 1 0
Patterson, 1b 3 1 1 1 Rathbun, dh 2 1 1 0
Warner, 3b 4 1 1 1 Warnock, lf 3 0 0 0
Holt, rf-p 4 0 0 1 Gonzalez, c 2 0 1 1
Emmerling, dh 4 1 2 2 Partlow, rf 3 0 0 1
Caldwell, p-rf 0 0 0 0 Thomas, p 0 0 0 0
Thompson, 2b 2 1 1 0 Johnson, p 0 0 0 0
Rutherford, p 0 0 0 0
Dupree, p 0 0 0 0
Totals 33 12 14 11 Totals 25 2 4 2
Bryant 510 500 1 — 12
North LR 000 000 2 — 2
E—Partlow, Thomas, Weigle, Ezell, Patterson. DP—North Little Rock 1, Bryant 1. LOB—Bryant 6, North Little Rock 5. 2B—Emmerling, Knight, Ezell. 3B—Ezell 2. SB—Tucker, Holt. SF—Tipton.
Pitching ip r er h bb so
Bryant
Rutherford 3 0 0 1 0 4
Dupree (W) 2 0 0 1 0 1
Caldwell 1 0 0 0 0 0
Holt 1 2 0 2 0 2
North Little Rock
Thomas (L) 3 11 9 12 2 2
Johnson 4 1 1 2 3 1
Thomas faced five batters in the fourth.
HBP—Gonzalez (by Rutherford), Weigle (by Caldwell), Rathbun (by Holt). WP—Johnson.
Umpires—Wilson (hp), Jones (1st), Whitaker (3rd).
