Birthday boy Hurt delivers
EDITOR’S NOTE: In this time of COVID-19, with no sports action, BryantDaily.com will be posting 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).
Devin Hurt’s 17th birthday won’t be one he’ll forget.
The junior second baseman’s one-out double drove in Bryan Griffith with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth as the top-ranked Bryant Hornets rallied in dramatic fashion past the sixth-ranked El Dorado Wildcats, 3-2, Friday, April 1, at Hornets Field.
The Wildcats came in with a 20-2 record and obviously fired up to challenge the top-ranked Hornets. And they came within a strike of pulling the upset.
El Dorado led 2-1 after scoring an unearned run in the top of the seventh. Wildcats’ starting Cannon Lester retired the first two in the bottom of the inning and ran the count to 3-2 on the Hornets No. 9 hitter Danny Riemenschneider, who coolly took a close pitch for ball four to keep the inning alive. A pitch later, Todd Bryan lashed a single to left. Travis Wood, who had three hits in the game, made a bid to win it right then and there for the Hornets with a drive to deep left that, on a warmer night, might have cleared the fence. As it was, the double brought Riemenschneider around with the tying run. Bryan, trying to score from first, was cut down by a sparkling relay by the Wildcats to send the game to extra innings.
Bryant starter Justin Wells worked around a one-out walk in his eighth inning of work but the Hornets couldn’t break through against Lester in the bottom of the inning.
In the ninth, Bryant closer Casey Grisham relieved and gave up a bloop single to Tyler Anglin to lead off the inning. It was the first hit the big lefty had surrendered in eight appearances (9 2/3 innings) this season. But Grisham rebounded by striking out the side to set up the dramatic finish in the bottom of the inning.
Griffith had opened the inning by drawin a walk from El Dorado reliver Jess Lockey. Richie Wood sacrificed him into scoring position for Hurt. On a 1-1 pitch, Hurt slapped a fly down the right-field line. El Dorado’s right-fielder John Thomas Shepherd made a dive for the ball but it got past him and Griffith scored easily.
The game was scoreless through 3 1/2 innings as Wells held El Dorado to just two hits through five. Bryant took the lead in the fourth when Travis Wood doubled, picking up third when the throw from the outfield got away from Wildcats’ second baseman Cody Smith. An out later, Aaron Davidson cracked a sacrifice fly to bring Wood home.
That 1-0 lead held until the sixth when a bloop single by Brandon Miller ended a string of 11 in a row that Wells had set down. Miller advanced on a passed ball and, after Shepherd was hit by a pitch, Lester singled up the middle to tie the game. Shepherd tried to score on a grounder by second off the bat of Brette Pitard but Hurt threw home to Davidson for the out. Davidson then picked Lester off third to end the inning.
In the home sixth, Travis Wood beat out an infield hit and Wells walked but Lester retired the next three to keep it tied going into the seventh.
With one out in the top of the seventh, Hunter Sullivan sliced a double into right. Wells struck out the next batter then had an 0-2 count on Chad Carmichael. But Carmichael was able to roll one to short and beat it out for a hit.
The Wildcats then tried to steal a run as Carmichael broke off second. The Hornets countered with a play in which Wells threw to Hurt coming in from his second base position. Sullivan broke for home and it appeared Hurt’s throw would get him. But it was in the dirt and Davidson couldn’t hang onto the short hop and make the tag and El Dorado had a 2-1 lead.
The Hornets improved to 14-6 with the win including wins over four rivals from their AAAAA-South Conference days (Benton, Sheridan, and Pine Bluff are the others) with another, Texarkana, coming to town on Monday, April 4.
