Sport Shop Sox sweep twinbill at Lakeside
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).
HOT SPRINGS — The Sport Shop Black Sox, surging toward the Zone 4 Tournament in Benton[more] on July 19, made it 12 wins in the last 14 games, with a doubleheader sweep of Hot Springs Lakeside Tuesday night.
The Sox rolled to a 15-3 win in five innings in the first game and an 11-1 victory in five in the nightcap.
The Sox, now 14-6, host Hot Springs Village on Thursday then wrap up the regular season at Texarkana, Texas on Sunday.
The team has drawn a first-round bye at the Zone tourney. They are scheduled to open on Friday, July 19, at 8 p.m., against the winner of a play-in game between Ashdown and Gravette.
Bryant 15, Lakeside 3
C.J. Phillips pitched shutout ball over the first three innings while the Sox built an 8-0 lead going into the fourth when Lakeside broke through for two runs. But Bryant scored seven in the top of the fifth to blow the game up.
Phillips worked around a walk and a hit to start the game, picking off the trail runner. In the second, he worked around a pair of walks and, in the third, a lead-off pass was erased by a doubleplay.
Bryant had taken a 4-0 lead in the top of the third. Daniel Darbonne drew a walk and Phillips singled. Dakota Besancon was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Justin Emmerling who broke the ice with an RBI hit. Hunter Oglesby drove in a run and Emmerling tried to score behind Besancon but was thrown out.
With two down, Weston Jones drew a walk and Michael Martindale ripped an RBI double. Jones tried to follow Oglesby across the plate on the play but was thrown out ending the inning.
In the fourth, Darbonne ignited another four-run uprising with a base hit. Phillips cracked the second of his three hits then Besancon and Emmerling walked to force in a run. Oglesby doubled to make it 8-0.
Lakeside broke through in the bottom of the fourth on consecutive hits from Andrew Spakes, Tanner Rice, Erick Aguirre and Carter Zeiser. But when Aguirre tried to score on Zeiser’s double, he was thrown out at the plate. A pop up to third and a strikeout got Phillips and the Sox out of the inning with a six-run advantage.
It was a 13-run advantage by the time Lakeside got back up. Chase Brooks was hit by a pitch to start the onslaught. He moved up on Darbonne’s groundout. Phillips singled and Besancon reached on an error as Brooks scored. With two away, Oglesby cleared the bases with a triple. He would score on a base hit by Caleb Chaffin.
Andrew Kincaid was hit by a pitch, Martindale singled and Brooks drilled a double to cap things off.
In the home fifth, Blake Spilker reached on a third-strike wild pitch and he would eventually scored on another Bryant error before Phillips closed it out with his fourth strikeout and a bouncer to short.
Bryant 11, Lakeside 1
Besancon, with fourth-inning relief from Chaffin, limited Lakeside to one run in the first inning of the second game. The Sox had already established a 3-0 lead in the top of the first. Phillips walked and was awarded second on a balk by Lakeside starter Blayne Porterfield. With one out, Emmerling walked and Oglesby lashed another triple to make it 2-0. He scored when Jones singled with two down.
In the bottom of the inning, Reece Nickles walked, stole second, took third on Jon Youngblood’s grounder to second and scored on a base hit by Spakes. Rice walked but Besancon got Aguirre to fly to left to keep it 3-1.
Bryant bumped that to 6-1 in the top of the second. Darbonne walked and stole second then Phillips drew a free pass. A wild pitch moved them up a bag and, with one out, Emmerling drilled a two-run single. After Emmerling swiped second, Oglesby chased him home with a double.
Besancon pitched around a one-out single by Harrison Russell in the bottom of the inning then the Sox went back to work with the bats in the top of the third. Martindale walked and stole second. Brooks walked then they pulled off a double steal. Darbonne walked to load the bases and Phillips came through with a sacrifice fly. Besancon picked up an RBI with a groundout and it was 8-1.
Lakeside’s third started with hits from Nickles and Youngblood but Besancon struck out Spakes and got Rice to bounce into a force at third. Aguirre rolled out to first to conclude the frame.
Bryant finished off the scoring with three more in the top of the fourth. Kincaid and Jones singled with one out, Martindale was hit by a pitch and Brooks cleared the bases with a double.
Chaffin walked Russell with one out in the bottom of the inning but struck out Kyle Lightsey and, after Porterfield singled, got Spilker to bounce into a game-ending force at second.
