by Rob on Mar 24, 2009 at 9:49 PM By Rob Patrick Bringing the experience and the knowledge gained from a major college career and four full seasons of professional baseball, Jay Sawatski has joined the staff of instructors at Diamond Sports in Bryant. A left-handed pitcher, Sawatski reached the Minnesota Twins’ AAA affiliate in Rochester, N.Y., late in the 2007 season, just a step away from the Major Leagues. In 2008, he was pitching for Class AA New Britain, Conn., when he suffered a strained flexor mass, which eventually brought a premature end to his promising career as a player. He returned to central Arkansas and is now passing on what he learned along the way. “I’m happy to be here,” Sawatski said after completing a lesson Tuesday with Brandon Oman, a sophomore at Little Rock Catholic. “I had a friend that worked for Coach (Pat) Harrison (coordinator of instruction at Diamond Sports) and said nothing but good things. But I’ve known him for a little while. So, I called him about doing lessons. He said they were moving out here, so I came out and I’ve been enjoying it.
by Rob on Mar 23, 2009 at 7:16 PM  By Rob Patrick PEARCY — The thing about being a closer is that, you work so few innings that one blow-up can wreck your earned run average. Then it takes that many more appearances to whittle it down. Such had been the case for Bryant senior Kaleb Jobe who had earned three saves but had a rough outing against Conway in a wild game that Bryant wound up winning 10-9. He then had similar trouble in a brief relief appearance on Saturday, March 21, in the midst of a come-from-behind win by Monticello. But Jobe got a start on Monday at Lake Hamilton and took a big chuck out of his inflated ERA by going the distance and allowing just one run on four hits as the Hornets got back on the winning track in an efficiently played 3-1 win in front of a crowd that was two-thirds Bryant fans. Jobe retired the first eight batters he faced, gave up a single then retired the next four. After the Wolves got on the board with a couple of hits in the fifth, the right-hander set down six of seven to close it out. He struck out six and walked no one.
by Rob on Mar 22, 2009 at 10:31 PM 2009 BRYANT HORNETS STATS Unofficial through 10 games Name AB R H D T HR BI *BB SO SB BA Hunter Mayall 37 10 16 4 0 0 7 4 2 3 .432 Justin Blankenship 23 9 9 4 0 0 8 3 3 5 .391 Kaleb Jobe 26 0 10 1 0 0 4 14 2 0 .385 Tyler Sawyer 28 6 10 3 1 1 5 12 4 0 .357 Brady Butler 26 5 9 2 0 0 8 11 5 1 .346 Brennan Bullock 29 5 8 0 0 0 5 10 8 5 .276 Garrett Bock 28 4 7 1 0 0 4 5 3 2 .250 Caleb Garrett 4 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 .250 Tyler Brown 14 2 3 0 0 0 3 2 0 1 .214 Hunter Alford 15 4 3 2 0 0 5 1 3 1 .200 Caleb Milam 6 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 .167 Lucas Castleberry 7 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 .143 Jordan Taylor 16 3 2 0 0 0 2 5 6 2 .125 Ben Wells 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 3 0 .000 Landon Pickett 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Jonathan Wade 0 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 ----- Jacob Clark 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 ----- Evan Jobe 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ----- Totals 264 65 80 17 1 1 53 72 45 27 .303 Name W-L IP R ER H *BB SO **ERA Matt Neal 0-0 0 0 0 0 1 0 ----- Landon Pickett 0-0 3.1 0 0 0 1 2 0.00 Ben Wells 2-1 25 10 7 19 15 28 1.96 Tyler Sawyer 3-1 21.1 11 8 24 9 32 2.63 Caleb Milam 0-1 5.1 3 2 6 3 6 2.63 Tyler Brown 1-0 2.2 2 2 5 2 3 5.25 Jordan Taylor 1-0 1.2 3 2 3 4 3 8.40 Kaleb Jobe 0-0 7 9 9 15 4 9 9.00 Totals 7-3 66.1 38 30 72 39 83 3.17 Saves: Jobe 3, Pickett 1, Sawyer 1. *includes hit by pitch. **based on earned runs per seven innings.
by Rob on Mar 21, 2009 at 8:36 PM By Rob Patrick PINE BLUFF — The Bryant Hornets came full circle in five days. Baseball can be that way. On Tuesday, the Hornets were riding high after a six-run rally in the bottom of the eighth to beat 7A-Central Conference rival Conway, 10-9. Five days later, they were themselves a victim of a five-run comeback in the bottom of the seventh by the Monticello Hillbillies. The result was a 9-8 loss in the fifth-place game of the Billy Bock Classic at Taylor Field in Pine Bluff. With one out and the bases full, Monticello's Hunter Lawson, who had donned the "golden sombrero" (for striking out four times), lined a single to left past the drawn-in infield to drive in the winning run. Actually, the Hornets had led 8-2 going into the bottom of the sixth. It was Monticello's second big rally in as many days. On Friday, they trailed Pine Bluff 8-0 then 11-4 but came back to win 16-11 to set up the game with Bryant. "We're going to get right," declared Hornets coach Kirk Bock. "When is that going to happen? I don't know. But we're going to get right."
by Rob on Mar 20, 2009 at 10:01 PM By Rob Patrick WHITE HALL — With three pitchers seeing their first varsity action and a fourth making his first start and only his second appearance, the Bryant Hornets out-lasted the Star City Bulldogs, 9-5, at White Hall High School, in the consolation round of the annual Billy Bock Classic. The tournament concludes on Saturday with the Hornets taking on Monticello at 3 p.m. Monticello out-slugged Pine Bluff 16-11 on Friday. In the winners bracket, North Little Rock defeated Watson Chapel 9-4 and was set to play Cabot a 2-1 winner over White Hall Friday for the tourney title on Saturday. All four of Saturday's games were set to be played at Taylor Field in Pine Bluff. In a workman-like fashion, the Hornets advanced, bouncing back from a disappointing 6-3 loss at Cabot on Thursday which not only served as the opener for both teams in the tournament but counted as a 7A-Central Conference contest. Bryant, 5-1 in league play, improved to 7-2 overall with the win over Star City. Hunter Mayall and Tyler Sawyer led Bryant's 11-hit offensive attack with three each. Hunter Alford and Justin Blankenship had two apiece with Blankenship driving in three runs. Sawyer extended his hitting streak to six games while Blankenship remained red-hot. He's hit .600 over the last three Hornets games. Sophomore Landon Pickett brought some order to the game as the fourth Bryant pitcher, working 3 1/3 hitless innings, walking one and fanning two, to pick up a save in his varsity debut. Tyler Brown, another sophomore who made his first appearance on the mound, picked up the win in relief of freshman Jordan Taylor. Sophomore Matt Neal also got his first taste of varsity competition in the game.
by Rob on Mar 20, 2009 at 9:06 PM  There's an art to constructing a batting order. There's a certain amount of balance involved, putting batters together in such an order that hits can be clustered to score runs in bunches rather than one at a time. Adjustments have to be made for who's hot and who's not. Often it's a work of trial and error. As of Friday, March 20, Bryant Lady Hornets head coach Lisa Stanfield believes she's found her team's most effective arrangement. The first inning of her team's non-conference game against Sheridan on Friday certainly was convincing. The Lady Hornets scored six runs on six hits on their way to an 11-1 victory in five innings. The win improved the Lady Hornets to 5-3 on the season going into spring break. They'll return to action in a tournament in Murfreesboro, Tenn., starting Thursday, March 26. Bryant hammered out 11 hits including three by Peyton Jenkins and two each by Christen Kirchner, Jessie Taylor and Sarah Hart. Jenkins pitched and held Sheridan to one run on four hits with four strikeouts and two walks.
by Rob on Mar 20, 2009 at 10:48 AM
The Bryant Lady Hornets, behind a combined 52 points from Morgan Seelinger and Jordan Chadwick, dominated the 21-team field at the annual Bryant Hornet Relays Thursday night.
Head coach Danny Westbrook called it “a total team effort.
"This team has a lot of track talent but I think our depth was the big key to winning tonight,” he continued. “Every facet of our team contributed. Ourdistance runners, sprinters, hurdlers, jumpers, and throwers all made contributions to our point total."
Seelinger was Bryant's high point athlete scoring 30 points. Chadwick added 22 points.
"Morgan and Jordan are best friends, but they are so competitive that they want to beat each other in anything they do,” Westbrook related. “As a coach, you have to really love their competitiveness."
The coach added, "All of the 7A-Central Conference schools were at this meet except for Van Buren. I think our winning tonight, in such a huge field, bodes well for our chances at the conference championship in May. Conway and (Little Rock) Central look to be the teams to beat, and they will be a lot stronger by conference. We just have to keep working hard."
The team will compete next at the Cyclone Relays in Russellville on Friday, April 3.
by Rob on Mar 20, 2009 at 10:33 AM  Tanner Tolbert led the way for the Bryant Hornets, accounting for 26 of the team’s 32 points at the annual Bryant Hornet Relays on Thursday.
Tolbert earned a first place finish in the long jump with a leap of 20' 7.5", then placed 2nd in the 100 meter dash. He finished the evening by placing third in the triple jump with a 42' 10" effort. Also scoring for the Hornets was the 3200 meter relay team of Tyler Freshour, Brandon Mueller, Logan Howard, and Michael Smith. They placed 6th in a time of 8:50. The 400 meter relay team of Stanley Oxner, Tanner Tolbert, James Glasper, and Kendrick Farr placed 4th.
by Rob on Mar 20, 2009 at 10:10 AM Former Arkansas Razorback J.J. Meadors will be conducting a five-week boot camp for Hornet Moms at Next Level Sports and Fitness, 201 So. Elm St., Bryant. The camp starts on Tuesday, March 31 and ends on Thursday, April 2. It will be three days per week, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7 p.m. and Saturdays at noon. The cost is $100. Only five spots are still open. Those interested in participating, e-mail Meadors at james_meadors@hotmail.com or call his cell at 501-200-2800.
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by Rob on Mar 20, 2009 at 12:09 AM 
By Rob Patrick CABOT — If only the Cabot Panthers had hit the ball a little harder early in the 7A-Central Conference game against the Bryant Hornets on Thursday, March 19. Andrew Reynolds had a solid single to center for the Panthers' first hit in the opening inning but beyond that, they weren't getting very good swings on Tyler Sawyer's pitches. But they made just enough contact to hit some slow rollers on the infield — balls that would've been routine grounders on a Little League-sized diamond — that the Hornet infielders had to charge time after time. Four of Cabot's first five hits didn't even make it beyond the infield grass. And, though they didn't produce anything on the scoreboard, they forced Sawyer to work longer innings and that, along with an unforeseen factor, wore on the Hornets' ace right-hander. Another of those plays resulted in a throwing error that extended the fifth inning in which Cabot tied the game 2-2. A pair of one-out walks in the sixth set up a decisive four-run uprising that included another error along the way. The 6-3 victory improved Cabot to 2-2 overall and 2-2 in the league. It was the first conference loss for the Hornets who dropped to 6-2 and 5-1, tied for the conference lead with North Little Rock and Little Rock Catholic (both 4-1) in the loss column. The game also served as the opening round contest in the Billy Bock Classic. The Hornets were set to play Star City at 4 p.m. on Friday in the consolation bracket at White Hall High School.
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