Another game, another winning rally for Senior Sox at Tennessee tourney
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).
COLUMBIA, Tenn. — Caleb Milam pitched four innings of shutout relief and the Bryant Black Sox Senior American Legion team rallied for six runs in the top of the fifth to turn a 3-2 deficit into an 8-3 win over J.B. Yeager of Cincinnati, Ohio, on Friday.
The Sox, later, knocked off the host Columbia, Tenn., team, 8-6, to clinch the top spot out of their pool with a game still to play before the championship round at the Independence Day Classic.
Bryant was set to play Jackson, Tenn., early Saturday in a game that has no bearing on the Sox’ advancement. They’ll be the single-elimination championship tournament Saturday afternoon.
Details about the win over Columbia will be forthcoming.
Against the Cincinnati team, Landon Pickett doubled to tie the game then late in the inning, Jordan Taylor drove in three with a double to provide the big blows of Bryant’s game-turning fifth.
Milam, who came in to relieve starter Dylan Cross got the last out of Cincinnati’s three-run third, retired nine of the last 10 batters he faced to preserve the win.
Bryant claimed a 2-0 lead with a run in the first and another in the top of the third. In the opening frame, Caleb Garrett singled with one out, advanced on a wild pitch and, after Taylor walked, took third when Chris Joiner reached on an error. He scored when Brennan Bullock bounced into an unsuccessful fielder’s choice.
With the bases loaded, Cincinnati managed to escape with a 1-2-3 doubleplay.
In the third, Taylor drew a lead-off walk. With two down, Pickett was hit by a pitch then walks to Lucas Castleberry and Tyler Brown forced in a run.
Cross, who had pitched around a single and hit batsman in the first then retired the side in order in the second, hit the No. 9 batter to start the third. A single and a balk got that first run in and, with two down, back-to-back doubles tied it. A single put the Cincinnati team on top.
Milam relieved after the first pitch to the next batter was a ball. A groundout ended the inning.
After that, the right-hander got out of a two-on, two-out jam in the fourth by picking a runner of second. In the fifth, a single and a hit batsman started the inning but Milam retired the next three forcing Cincinnati to strand both runners.
The only other base-runner for the Ohio team came on a two-out single in the bottom of the seventh. Cincy’s clean-up batter then flew out to Evan Jobe in right to end the game.
Yeager had turned to its ace to get out of the third and he waded through the top three in Bryant’s lineup in the fourth.
The fifth began with a walk to Joiner. Bullock was hit by a pitch and, suddenly, things began to blow up for the Cincy hurler. Pickett ripped a shot over the centerfielder’s head for a ground-rule double, knocking in Joiner but, because the ball bounced over the fence, Bullock had to remain at third.
Castleberry, however, reached on an error to get Bullock home, though Pickett was thrown out at the plate trying to follow him in.
But a walk to Brown and a single by Jobe loaded the bases. Hunter Mayall’s sacrifice fly made it 5-3 with Garrett coming up. He reached on another error, loading the bases for Taylor who plugged the bap in right-center, clearing the bases and putting Bryant up 8-3.
Milam and the defense did the rest.
The Sox threatened to add on in the top of the seventh but singles by Jobe and Garrett went for naught.
