Sox open defense of State title with 4-2 win over Cabot
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).
FORT SMITH — The Kansas City Royals rode a three-headed bullpen monster all the way to the seventh game of the World Series in 2014. And now there are several Major League teams trying to duplicate that success.
It’s an impressive approach, if you can manage it. The starter gives you five or six solid innings while your hitters scratch out some kind of lead then fresh, live arms close it out.
On Monday, at the 2015 Senior American Legion State Tournament at Crowder Field on the campus of the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith, the defending State champion Bryant Black Sox unleashed a version of the finishing trio.
With the Sox up 4-2 over Cabot Centennial Bank and starter Jason Hastings doing his part through six innings, Devin Dupree came on and made like Kansas City’s Kelvin Herrera, Alex Shurtleff did the Wade Davis thing in the eighth, then Zach “Panda” Jackson finished up in Greg Holland fashion.
Victory in hand, the Sox, now 33-6-2, advance in the winners’ bracket. They’ll play the Jonesboro Ricemen at 4 p.m., on Saturday. Jonesboro won its tourney opener against the Conway Cougars, 5-2.
Offensively, the Black Sox were spurred on by catcher Trey Breeding, who went 3 for 4 with two runs scored. He ignited a tale-tell fourth-inning uprising with a double inside the line in left.
Bryant had taken a 1-0 lead in the second when Breeding singled up the middle, was sacrificed by Hastings to second, took third on a wild pitch and, after Dylan Hurt was hit by a pitch, scored when Logan Allen was robbed of a hit by Cabot third baseman Bradon Jernigan. After a diving stop to his left, Jernigan’s only play was to second for a force on Hurt. A relay to first was too late to get the speedy Allen and Breeding scored
After Breeding’s lead-off double in the fourth, Hastings sacrificed again to get him to third then Dylan Hurt, after faking a bunt or two, laced a double to right-center to make it 2-0.
Allen followed with a bunt single as Hurt took third and Austin Kelly got a squeeze bunt down to make it 3-0.
Bryant’s Connor Tatum followed and he showed bunt too and the Cabot defense had to play close at the corners even with two out. So, on a 1-1 pitch from Cabot starter Brett Brockinton, Tatum swung away. His sinking liner to center fell, just in front of the glove of Lee Sullivan, who dove for the ball. Allen scored and it was 4-0.
“Just enough,” said Bryant manager Darren Hurt, regarding the Sox’ offense. “Thank God for Trey Breeding. He had a good day.
“We didn’t get anything going,” he noted. “The small-ball inning (third) kind of got us going and I thought, from there, we would kind of take off and get on them. But their pitcher kept us off balance.”
Cabot wound up stranding 11 baserunners. The Bankers got a runner to third in the first on a single by Sullivan, a wild pitch and a groundout but Hastings fanned clean-up hitter Logan Kirkendall to escape.
In the second, Gavin Tillery was hit by a pitch but forced at second on a comebacker to Hastings off the bat of Blake McCutchen. Logan Gilbertson singled to right. With two down, Austin Null hit a rocket off the glove of Dylan Hurt at short, who could only try to back-hand it. McCutchen rounded third and headed for home but Allen, charging in from left, scooped the ball and threw home to Breeding time for the out to end the inning.
Hastings worked a 1-2-3 third with the help of a diving stop by Tatum to his right at second. In the fourth, Tillery singled but Hastings, using a nice curveball and a tough change to offset his fastball, fanned two.
But the Bankers got on the board in the fifth. With one out, Null drilled the second of his three hits to left. Hastings fanned lead-off man Dylan Bowers but Sullivan pulled a single to right, the second of his three hits. Brockinton followed with a bloop to center that Hurt almost tracked down. But it fell in for a hit and an RBI.
Sullivan wound up at third and Brockinton swiped second to bring the potential tying run to the plate in Kirkendall. But, for the third time, Hastings struck him out and it remained 4-1.
In the fifth, Cabot trimmed another run off the lead. With one out, McCutchen singled, took second on a wild pitch and third when Gilbertson was robbed of a hit by Warner at third.
On the next pitch, however, Jernigan singled up the middle to drive in the run. Null’s third hit followed then a wild pitch put the potential tying runs in scoring position. Again, however, Hastings came through in the clutch, striking out Bowers to end the threat.
In the seventh, on came Dupree. He retired Sullivan but Brockinton singled then Kirkendall beat out an infield hit. But Dupree got Tillery to ground to Warner, who got a force at second. Tatum took the throw and had to stretch for it so there was no relay to try to get the inning-ending doubleplay.
Dupree, however, induced a grounder to second by McCutchen. Tatum stepped on the bag for the force to end the threat with Brockinton standing on third.
The Sox made some noise at the plate in the bottom of the seventh when Warner singled and Patterson’s pop to shallow left was dropped but Brockinton escaped with the lead still 4-2.
Shurtleff took his turn in the top of the eighth and, after runner the count to 3-1 on Gilbertson, got him to bounce out to Warner. The right-hander then needed just seven pitches to strike out Jernigan and Null.
Cabot reliever Michael Sheppard worked around a two-out error and Jackson entered in the top of the ninth. Though Sullivan beat out a single off Jackson’s glove with one down and Kirkendall legged out a single on a roller to short with two down to create a little tension, Jackson coolly retired Tillery on a comebacker to finish the game.
“What we’re doing is basically taking the starters that are at least two days out and using them for an inning in late relief,” Hurt related regarding the pitching strategy. “That’s kind of the plan. So (Blake) Patterson goes tomorrow and really the same guys will be in relief again except for Panda. He won’t, because he’s scheduled to start Sunday.”
