Sox scratch out runs to back Jackson’s complete-game shutout
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 courtesy of Paul Dotson
LITTLE ROCK — Panda pounded the zone.
Any time a pitcher can average around 10 pitches an inning, he’s dealing. On Thursday, in a winners bracket game at the 2016 Senior American Legion MidSouth Regional Tournament, Zach “Panda” Jackson tossed a five-hit shutout over nine innings on just 94 pitches as the Bryant Black Sox subdued the Ada Braves, champions of Oklahoma, 6-0.
The victory moves the Sox to the winners bracket final on Friday at 6:30 p.m., against Sedalia, Mo., which upended Pontatoc, Miss., 9-7, in 10 innings earlier Thursday. It’ll be a Veterans Appreciation game. All veterans of the military are invited to attend free of charge.
Both Bryant and Sedalia will play again on Saturday as it goes with the Legion bracket. But the winner of Friday’s showdown will secure a spot in the Regional championship game.
Of his 94 deliveries against Oklahoma, Jackson threw 72 strikes and just 22 balls. He fanned six without a walk. In fact, he never let a count get to three balls until the very last batter of the game who eventually flew out to Austin Kelly in right.
In the process, the Bryant right-hander retired the Braves with fewer that 10 pitches in five innings. The 15-pitch ninth was the most work he had to do all game.
So, how does someone throw that many strikes and give up so little, especially against a State championship-caliber team?
“I think the movement on every pitch — I mean he’s not going to throw anything straight,” explained Sox manager Darren Hurt. “The ball’s moving and he’s such a gutty competitor that he’s going to go at you. He’s going to say, ‘If you can hit it, hit it. But I don’t think you can.’ He gets a lot of ground balls because he’s got that late sink and movement. His cutter was really good tonight. It’s hard to square it up.”
Ada managed to get two batters on base at the same time in just one inning, the eighth, when the Sox committed their only two errors.
Jackson’s pitching was otherwise backed by flawless defense while, at the plate, his teammates scratched out a 3-0 lead early then took advantage of three walks to pad the margin with a three-run seventh. Logan Allen went 3 for 4 with a walk, a triple and two stolen bases. Aaron Orender had two hits. Each knocked in a run.
And twice the Sox used suicide squeeze plays with the bases loaded. Dylan Hurt, on a 3-2 count got a bunt down for an RBI in the second and Jake East pulled the bat back to take ball four on a 3-2 delivery in the seventh, forcing in a run.
Bryant’s sixth run came thanks to the sheer hustle and desire of Joey Cates who, with the bases full with one out in the seventh, hit a grounder to short that resulted in a force. The Braves tried to turn two, to get out of the inning but Cates sprinted to first and beat the throw with a headfirst slide into the bag.
Bryant took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Allen singles, stole second and, after Dylan Hurt walked, swiped third, drawing an errant throw that allowed him to come home.
Jackson pitched around a two-out single by Hunter Capps in the top of the second then the Sox added two. A one-out walk to Seth Tucker got things going. Orender singled up the middle the Cates reached when his drive to left was misplayed.
With the bags full, Allen laced a hump-backed drive that bounced on the right-field line for an RBI single.
That brought up Dylan Hurt who worked the count to 3-2 then, with Orender streaking toward the plate, got the bunt down to make it a 3-0 game.
Bryant had stranded 17 runners in their 3-2 win over Ottawa, Kansas on Wednesday night (and wound up stranding 11 more on Thursday). Asked it that was why he tried the squeeze, Darren Hurt said, “It was in my mind. Sometimes, if I get in a situation with Dylan at the plate with a three-ball count and the bases loaded, I really like my odds. And Jake too. We did it with both of them and both of them did their job. Dylan laid the bunt down because it was a strike and Jake took ball four.”
The Sox, too, had made Braves starter Levi Prater work. He threw 56 pitches in the first two frames. By contrast, Jackson needed just 17. Though the Oklahoma lefty settled in with three scoreless innings, he headed into the sixth with a pitch count of 100. Tucker beat out an bunt single to start the sixth and, though he was forced out on a grounder by Orender, a wild pitch put a runner in scoring position. Cates was robbed of a hit on a slicing drive to the left-center gap but a four-pitch walk to Allen brought Prater’s pitch count to 111 and he gave way to right-hander Jeff Shafer.
Meanwhile, Jackson had been rolling. He gave up a two-out single to Gage Wall in the third but wound up picking him off. The Braves were set down in order in the fourth and the fifth innings. In the sixth, Gage Burns singled and Tommy Peay got a sacrifice bunt down. Jackson made a nice play to get the out at first. Burns moved to second but made the mistake of rounding the bag too far. Orender relayed to Tucker at second who got the tag down in time for a rather unorthodox doubleplay.
And it proved beneficial when Wall smacked a single moments later. But Jackson struck out Gabe Simon to end in the inning then fanned two more in the top of the seventh.
In the bottom of the seventh, Shaffer struggled with the strike zone. He walked Garrett Misenheimer and Kelly then Jordan Gentry beat out a bunt single to load the bases. The count went to 3-2 on East and he squared with Misenheimer heading home, taking the RBI walk when the pitch was high.
Dakota Jesse relieved for Ada but, with one out, Oredner singled in Kelly bringing up Cates who got Gentry home.
Bryant’s errors came on back-to-back pitches with one out in the top of the eighth. Jackson responded with a strikeout then induced an inning-ending pop that Orender hauled down.
In the ninth, Simon singled but consecutive force outs followed before Tucker Elliott flied to Kelly on a 3-2 pitch to finish it out.
