Sox win one, lose one on first day of Fort Smith tourney
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POTEAU, Okla. — Logan Chambers belted two home runs and drove in four to lead the Bryant Black Sox Senior American Legion team to a 10-3 win over the Fort Smith Sportsman Athletics Junior team at the 2018 Katzer Tournament on Saturday evening at Poteau High School near Fort Smith.
The tournament was moved to Poteau after wet conditions forced it away from Forsgren Field in Fort Smith.
The Sox opened the tournament Saturday afternoon with a 7-5 loss to Three Rivers Senior team.
As the No. 2 seed from Pool B, the Sox will take on Fort Smith Sportsman’s Senior team on Sunday at 11 a.m., for a chance to play for the championship at 4.
Bryant 10, Fort Smith 3
Slade Renfrow, Scott Schmidt, Brayden Lester and Coby Greiner pitched for the Sox in the win over the Sportsman team.
The Sox built a 4-0 lead in the first two innings and, after Fort Smith cut the lead to 4-3 in the third, Bryant scored three of its own in the top of the fourth to take control of the game.
Chambers had three hits. Jake Wright, Brandon Hoover and Matthew Sandidge each had two with Hoover driving in three.
Hoover drove in the first two runs in the top of the first. His double to left chased in Chambers, who had reached on an error, and Greiner, who had singled.
Renfrow pitched a 1-2-3 home half and the Sox tacked on two more when Sandidge led off the second with a triple and scored on Chambers’ single. Greiner bounced into a force at second but Wright singled and Greiner scored on a knock by Peyton Dillon.
A one-out single went for naught for Fort Smith in the home half but in the fourth, they got their three runs on a pair of singles, a hit batsman and a double.
Chambers opened the top of the fourth with his first homer. Greiner reached on an error, Wright walked and, after Dillon to get Greiner home then, Hoover walked and Schmidt made it 7-3 with a sacrifice fly.
Renfrow, after surviving the third, recorded the first out of the fourth before issuing a walk. Schmidt relieved and struck out the next two batters to send it to the fifth.
Lester would work around a pair of singles in the bottom of the fifth.
In the top of the sixth, Wright drilled a one-out double and courtesy runner Grayson Prince scored when Hoover cracked a two-out single to left.
Fort Smith loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth. But Greiner relieved and struck out the next three to end the threat.
Prince walked with two out in Bryant’s seventh then Chambers unloaded for his second big fly to set the final score.
Greiner retired the last three batters to seal the win.
Three Rivers 7, Bryant 5
Wright blasted a homer and had three hits, but the Sox couldn’t overcome a 7-2 deficit going into the seventh inning.
Myers Buck, on the mound for the first time in over a week walked just one but hit three batters and struck out six. Three Rivers had seven hits including four home runs.
Bryant took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Two-out doubles by Wright and Dillon produced the run.
But Three Rivers tied it in the home half and, after the Sox were retired in order in the top of the second, Three Rivers took the lead with a run on a solo homer in the bottom half.
It stayed 2-1 until Three Rivers scored two more in the fourth with a two-out two-run homer.
The Sox cut it to 4-2 in the top of the sixth. With two away, Wright singled and Stark, running for him, stole second. Consecutive walks to Dillon, Hoover and Schmidt forced in the run. A groundout ended the threat with the bases still full.
Another two-out, two-run blast after a solo shot early in the inning gave Three Rivers the 7-2 lead that the Sox, fresh from a pair of walk-off wins at the Perfect Game/East Cobb Invitational, tried to overcome in the top of the seventh.
Konner Clontz drew a one-out walk then Chambers singled. A wild pitch and a groundout by Greiner brought Clontz around. Wright’s homer made it 7-5 before the final out was recorded.
