LITTLE ROCK — The Bryant Hornets’ bump-work continues to impress.
On Wednesday, right-hander Garrett Wilson struck out 13 batters in five innings and allowed just one run on three hits as the Hornets secured a 7-2 win over the Little Rock Christian Warriors at Pulaski Robinson High School.
Austin Ledbetter and Connor Martin each had three hits to lead the offense as Bryant improved to 3-0 on the season going into a trip to Rogers on Friday. They’ll scheduled to play Rogers Heritage and Springdale.
In those three games, the Hornets have allowed five runs but only once more than one an inning. That one inning was in the top of the ninth on Tuesday against Greenbrier. Logan White pitched in that frame then picked up the win when the Hornets rallied in the bottom of the ninth to forge a 4-3 victory.
Bryant head coach Travis Queck got White right back on the mound on Wednesday in relief of Wilson. With the Hornets up 7-1, White was greeted by a single from the Warriors’ Isaac Nowell then he walked Charlie Carter.
Queck went to the mound at that point and when play resumed, White fanned the side getting the third out after issuing a walk that loaded the bases.
“This game’s funny, right?” said Queck. “Because he got the win last night and he had a real rough go of it. They hit him pretty hard.”
Asked what he told White on his visit on Wednesday, Queck related, “I just said, ‘Hey, you’ve just got to relax. Find the zone and just fill it up. Make your defense work.’ And he did his job.
“He’s figuring it out,” he added. “And that’s what we’ve got an opportunity to do right now. The more guys we can get to figure it out, the better we’re going to be.”
Blaine Sears finished off the game in the seventh, giving up an unearned run on two hits and an error.
Speaking of figuring it out, Wilson obviously had it.
“G did his job, didn’t he?” expressed Queck. “He threw strikes and made them hit it around. He did a great job. The defense played behind him.”
Regarding the strikeouts, the coach added, “That’s what happens when you throw strikes. If you talk about last year to today, that’s what we’re doing a better job of. So, I’m proud of G for that.”
Wilson walked no one. Little Rock Christian’s lone run against him came in the bottom of the first after the Hornets had taken a 2-0 lead. Ross Bowman led off with a single and stole second. Wilson fanned the next two batters and had an 0-1 count on clean-up hitter Conner Whipple. But Whipple pulled a groundball through the hole between short and third for an RBI single.
Whipple was the only Warriors’ hitter that Wilson did not fan. But White got him in the sixth.
The only other hit against Wilson was a one-out double by Nowell in the third. Nowell had three of Little Rock Christian’s six hits in the game. He got no further than second, actually, as Wilson struck out Carter and got Whipple to groundout to short.
The Hornets supported their superb pitching with 11 hits including three doubles. In the first, Ledbetter drew a two-out walk against lefty Reece Tarini. On the next pitch, Turner Seelinger ripped a drive off the right-field fence for a double.
That brought up Martin, who fouled off three two-strike pitches before plugging the gap in left center for a two-run double.
Wilson actually struck out four batters in the second. One, Coffman, reached on a third-strike wild pitch. He stole second but was stranded.
In the top of the third, Noah Davis appeared to have a single on the infield on a bouncer that was fielded by Little Rock Christian third sacker William White behind the bag. Davis beat the throw to first.
But it was ruled a foul ball and Davis came back to the plate. On the next pitch, he drilled a clean single to left.
A wild pitch got Davis to second. He scored on Ledbetter’s lined single to left to make it 3-1.
With two out, Martin singled to center and, when the ball was bobbled, he wound up at second as Ledbetter took third.
Gideon Motes worked a walk to load the bases then Sears drew a free pass to force in Bryant’s second run of the inning.
Both teams were retired in order in the fourth. Ryan Riggs, Tuesday’s hitting hero, was robbed of a hit on a nice play in the hole by Bowman, the Warriors’ shortstop.
In the fifth, Grayson O’Dwyer took over on the mound for Tarini. Ledbetter and Martin singled then Motes made a bid for a hit, but his liner was caught by Coffman at second and Martin was doubled off first to end the threat.
Wilson finished his outing by strikeout out the side in the home fifth. He came out having thrown just 82 pitches.
The Hornets took the mystery out of the outcome in the top of the sixth. Sears beat out an infield hit then J.T. Parker drilled a double into the left-center gap.
Jordan Knox was struck by a pitch then Riggs picked up an RBI when his grounder to second resulted in a force out at second. Davis followed with a sacrifice fly to get Parker home.
Ledbetter’s hit-and-run single up the middle, sent Riggs to third. Seelinger’s liner up the middle drove him home to make it 7-1.
“The guys came out and competed at the dish,” Queck said. “It wasn’t always pretty. But we had opportunities. We try to find a way to score a run in every inning and it starts with the lead-off guy getting on and we had that happen a couple of innings.”
Sears was greeted by Jackson Kirchner, who singled to left. But he got pinch-hitter Jackson Ward to fly to right and Bowman to sky to left. Nowell sliced a single to right to put runners at the corners.
With Carter at the plate, Sears uncorked an errant throw to first on an ill-advised pickoff play, allowing a run to score. He came back, however, and got the final out on a pop to Ledbetter at short.
