Tipton punctuates Bryant’s winning rally in the bottom of the ninth
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).
LITTLE ROCK — With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, his team trailing 5-4, Bryant Black Sox’ left-fielder Drew Tipton took a couple of pitches from Columbia, Tenn., right-hander Jake Usher. With an even count, Usher made his 139th pitch of the game a fastball. Tipton squared it up and lined it into the gap in left-center.
Ben Walker, who had already tracked down a few other gap-shots to rob Bryant hitters, closed on the ball and dove for it. But it got by him.
Two runs scored and the Black Sox had rallied for three runs in the bottom of the ninth to stun Columbia, 6-5, in the winners’ bracket final of the 2014 Senior American Legion MidSouth Regional Tournament at UALR’s Gary Hogan Field.
Ironically, just the night before, it was the Tennessee team that ended up celebrating at the end of the game against Tupelo, Miss. Columbia had trailed 6-0 going into the ninth. They rallied for a 7-6 win to get to the winners’ bracket final on Saturday.
It looked like Columbia might be the Cinderella of the tourney when it followed up that wild victory by building a 5-3 lead over Bryant that held until the thrilling ninth as Usher bedeviled the Sox with an impressive fastball and tough breaking pitch.
Bryant stayed close thanks in large part to a splendid performance in relief by Justin Emmerling. Over the final five innings, the sidewinding right-hander held Tennessee to just one hit and a walk while he struck out five. He set down the last 12 batters of the game.
The Sox, meanwhile, had been unable to capitalize on Korey Thompson’s lead-off double off the left-field wall in the fifth; Hayden Lessenberry’s lead-off single in the sixth; and a one-out double by Chase Tucker in the eighth.
Usher retired the first batter of the home ninth. Evan Lee came on as a pinch-hitter and got down 0-2 only to battle back and earn a walk. With C.J. Phillips in to pinch-run, Trey Breeding smacked a line-drive single to right.
With the tensions mounting, Usher got a visit from his coach before Thompson came to the plate. With no one warming in the bullpen, Usher continued.
But, with the defense in at the corners expecting a bunt, he fell behind Thompson 2-0. On the next pitch, Thompson got a drag bunt down that not only moved the runners over, it went for a single, loading the bases.
That brought up Trevor Ezell who had suffered a rare oh-fer, unable to reach base in four trips. He battled Usher to a 3-2 count then was hit by a pitch on the forearm.
Columbia manager Mickey McKeel asked for an appeal, contending that the ball had hit the knob of Ezell’s bat and the plate appearance should continue. The umpires conferred and Ezell was awarded the base, forcing home Phillips to make it 5-4 with Tipton coming to the plate.
“I was in a fastball count,” Tipton recalled, “so I looked for him to throw one right down the middle and he did. I wasn’t going to swing at anything off-speed except maybe a change-up because he left that up a lot. But I was going to look fastball because I knew the harder it comes, the farther it goes.
“When I first hit it, I thought there was no doubt but then he dove for it,” he continued. “He ran a lot of balls down so I wasn’t really sure. I heard a bunch of people cheering but I couldn’t tell if it was our fans or their fans. Then I saw the whole dugout coming out so . . . “
So the Sox had their 45th win in 49 games. Number 50 will be today at 6 p.m., against Jefferson City, Mo. At 2, Columbia will take on New Orleans Retif Oil in a game for survival.
Bryant earned a spot in the championship round on Monday. If they get past Jefferson City, they’ll have to be defeated twice by whichever team prevails in the first game today to be denied a bid to the a trip to the American Legion World Series
In Columbia, the Black Sox came up against a team that had the same kind of speed as they did. In fact, Tennessee stole six bases in the game, three by lead-off man Alex McKelvy.
McKelvey walked to open the game. He stole second, went to third on a passed ball and scored on a single by Hayden Holt. Usher followed up with a single but Bryant starter Harrison Dale escaped to keep it 1-0.
The hard-throwing Usher struck out the side in the bottom of the first but, after Dale worked a 1-2-3 second, Hayden Lessenberry ripped a double to right-center, moved to third on Blake Patterson’s fly to deep center then scored when Brandan Warner hit a hump-back liner to center to plate the Sox’ first run. With two out, Breeding plugged the gap in left-center for an RBI double and a 2-1 lead.
Another lead-off walk to McKelvy came back to haunt Dale and the Sox in the fourth. Hayden Holt sacrificed him to second and, after Usher was hit by a pitch, they worked a double steal. McKelvy scored on Carter Bair’s groundout then Peyton Sockwell cracked an RBI single to center, putting Columbia up 3-2.
Uncharacteristic errors led to a pair of unearned runs in the fourth as the lead was extended. Bryant trimmed a run off the margin in the fourth. Lessenberry walked but was forced at second when it appeared that Wright had charged in and made a shoestring catch to rob Warner. But the ball was trapped. So Lessenberry, who had started back to first, was thus retired as Wright threw in to Sockwell at second for a force.
But Warner stole second and Dalton Holt came through with a clutch single on a liner to right, making it 5-3.
With Emmerling on in relief, Will Norwood earned a one-out walk in the top of the fifth. Ryan Helgren grounded into a force at second but Helgren took off on a steal as Wright swung on an outside pitch. It was ruled that he had interfered with Lessenberry’s throw to second and the threat was over.
Emmerling worked around an infield hit and an error to start the sixth. William Pilkinton beat out the infield hit then took second when McKelvy reached on an error. The duo worked another double steal but Emmerling escaped. He fanned Hayden Holt then got Usher to tap one towards short. Ezell charged in and threw to the plate to retire Pilkinton. Moments later, Bair bounced to third to end the threat.
Tennessee was shut down by Emmerling after that, setting up the dramatic finish.
BRYANT 6, COLUMBIA, TENN. 5
Tennessee ab r h bi Black Sox ab r h bi
McKelvy, cf 3 3 0 0 Ezell, ss 4 0 0 1
H.Holt, ss 3 0 1 2 Tipton, lf 5 0 2 2
Usher, p 4 1 1 0 Tucker, cf 4 0 1 0
Bair, 1b 5 0 0 1 Lessenberry, c 3 1 2 0
Sockwell, 2b 4 0 1 1 Patterson, 1b 4 0 0 0
Norwood, c 3 0 0 0 Warner, 3b 4 2 1 1
Helgren, 3b 4 0 0 0 D.Holt, rf 3 0 1 1
Wright, lf 4 1 1 0 Lee, ph 0 0 0 0
Pilkinton, rf 3 0 1 0 Phillips, pr 0 1 0 0
Breeding, dh 4 0 2 1
Caldwell, pr 0 1 0 0
Thompson, 2b 4 1 2 1
Dale, p 0 0 0 0
Emmerling, p 0 0 0 0
Totals 33 5 5 4 Totals 35 6 11 6
Columbia 102 200 000 — 5
Bryant 020 100 003 — 6
One out when winning run scored.
E—Warner 2, Thompson. LOB—Columbia 8, Bryant 7. 2B—Lessenberry, Breeding, Thompson, Tucker, Tipton. SB—McKelvy 3, Usher 2, Tipton, Pilkinton. S—H.Holt.
Pitching ip r er h bb so
Columbia
Usher (L) 8.1 6 6 11 2 5
Bryant
Dale 4 5 3 4 2 2
Emmerling (W) 5 0 0 1 1 5
HBP—Usher (by Dale). WP—Dale. PB—Lessenberry.
Umpires—Cayson (hp), Clark (1b), Whitaker (2b), Strada (3b).
