Sox, Hogs split twinbill in Texarkana
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).
TEXARKANA — Alex Shurtleff and Seth Tucker combined on a four-hitter, allowing one unearned run as the Bryant Black Sox Senior American Legion team earned a split of a league doubleheader with the defending National champion Texarkana Razorbacks Tuesday night.
In the first game, the Sox were shackled by Logan Vidrine, who returns after playing a key role in the Hogs’ championship run (which included a hugely controversial Southwest Regional decision last summer at Bryant’s expense).
The Sox are now 21-5 this season going into a league contest against the Little Rock Vipers on Wednesday at Bryant High School Field. They’ll travel to the Mid-America Tournament in Springfield, Mo., on Thursday.
Bryant, which hadn’t played since a July 4 loss in the finals of the Keith Hagan Memorial All-American Classic in Memphis, was charged with five errors in the opener so only two of Texarkana’s six runs were earned.
Logan Allen had two of Bryant’s four hits in the second game. Dylan Hurt and Matthew Sandidge each had a hit and an RBI.
Shurtleff pitched six innings, allowing the lone run while scattering four hits, walking one, hitting three batters and striking out five. Tucker struck out the side in the seventh inning to close out the win and earn a save.
Texarkana’s lone run came in the first inning. A walk, a single and a passed ball produced the run before Shurtleff ending the inning with a strikeout.
That lead held up as Texarkana’s Kaden Tollett dueled with Shurtleff until Bryant scored all three of its runs in the bottom of the fifth.
With one out, Tucker waited out a walk. Allen singled to center to chase Tucker to third. An error in the outfield allowed Tucker to score as Allen made it to second. A wild pitch got him to third as Jake East walked.
Justin Swecker relieved for Texarkana and when Hurt got a sacrifice bunt down, the Hogs’ hurler fielded the ball and threw wildly to first. Allen scored and East reached second. Sandidge then ripped a double to left to get East home, making it 3-1.
Shurtleff pitched around a hit batsman in the top of the sixth. Swecker set down the Sox 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning.
Tucker took over on the mound for Bryant in the seventh and issued a walk before fanning the next three.
The first game was tied 1-1 going into the bottom of the fourth when Texarkana scratched out two runs to gain the upper hand. Two more scored in the fifth and another in the sixth.
Allen had three hits and drove in the lone run. Tucker had two knocks and scored the lone run.
Allen singled off Tollett to start the game but the next seven batters were set down. Tucker lined a double to center to snap that string with one out in the top of the third. Allen singled him home, advancing to second on the late throw to the plate. He was stranded, however.
The Sox were on the verge of getting through the bottom of the fourth unscathed. A one-out single by Beau Burson was erased when Hurt threw him out trying to steal. But an error allowed Austin Stubber to reach bases. Kade Garmany and Tyler Moreland followed with singles and when the ball was misplayed in the outfield on Moreland’s hit, Stubber scored to snap the tie. Parker Ribble doubled in Garmany but the Sox worked the relay to nab Moreland at the plate to end the inning.
Brandon Hoover led off Bryant’s fifth with a single. He advanced to second on a groundout by Scott Schmidt. With two down, Allen drilled a single to right. Hoover tried to score but was thrown out at the plate by Burson.
A walk, a double and a two-base error made it 4-1 in the bottom of the fifth. With two down, Burson doubled to drive in another run.
Singles by East and Myers Buck gave Bryant a chance in the top of the sixth. A passed ball got them to second and third but Vidrine ended the threat with a strikeout.
In the bottom of the inning, Garmany reached on an error and was sacrificed to second by Moreland. Ribble’s fly to right allowed Garmany to tag and advance to third. R Orr walked on a 3-2 pitch and, on an 0-2 delivery, John Michael Russ belted an RBI double to left, making it 6-1.
Tucker managed a two-out single in the top of the seventh but he was stranded as Vidrine closed it out.
