Bryan sparks Hornets to win over Panthers
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).
By ROB PATRICK
BRYANT TIMES
First it was a shoulder injury that took him out of the pitching rotation and the outfield, then it was a ligament injury in his right hand. But Todd Bryan has battled through the injuries and continued to swing the bat. On Thursday, April 14, Bryan was the instigator of a 10-3 victory over the rival Benton Panthers, in what may well be the last time the Bryant Hornet seniors play them.
In three years against the Panthers, the Hornets seniors are 5-1, losing only in 2003 when they were sophomores.
Bryan and Zack Young each had two hits to lead the Hornets in Thursday’s game which pitted the first-place team from the AAAAA-Central and the first-place team from the AAAAA-South (Benton). Justin Wells, Corey Lambert, Bryan and Young each drove in two runs.
Aaron Davidson, with last-out help from Danny Riemenschneider, got the victory on the mound improving to 5-1 on the season and lowering his earned run average to 2.60 with only one of the Benton runs were earned. He struck seven, walked three and hit two batters while scattering seven hits. His only 1-2-3 inning was the first but, except for the second and seventh innings, he kept working out of the trouble.
Benton’s Bennett James was 3-for-3 including a single that was misplayed in the outfield with two out in the in the bottom of the second that produced two of the Panthers runs.
That gave Benton a 2-1 lead. Bryant had scored a run in the first when Bryan singled, stole second and drew a wild throw then scored on a double by Wells.
The Panthers weren’t ahead for long either. In the bottom of the second, Young walked, Bryan Griffith beat out an infield hit and, after Richie Wood sacrificed, Lambert loaded the bases for Bryan with a walk. Bryan responded with a ground-rule double down the left-field line to put the Hornets back on top, 3-2.
Devin Hurt, who walked four times in the game, drew his second free pass to load the bases again for Wells, who grounded into a force at third, just beating the relay to first to avoid the inning-ending doubleplay as Lambert scooted home.
A nice running catch by Richie Wood in deep right-center robbed Benton’s Jim Sudderth of extra bases to end the top of the third. In the home half, Davidson reached on an error and courtesy runner Joey Winiecki swiped second. A wild pitch sent him to third but Brian Bullard, on in relief of Benton starter Josh Brown, retired the next two. And he came within a strike of getting out of the inning but a 3-2 pitch to Richie Wood was off the plate and Lambert followed with a double into the gap in right-center that not only brought Winiecki in, but chased Wood home all the way from first, making it 6-2.
Davidson worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth and, in the bottom of the inning, the Hornets rattled the bats again. After Hurt walked and Wells lined out to center, Travis Wood shot a single to left and Davidson belted one off the base of the fence in left for an RBI double.
Wes Grant relieved for Benton and was greeted by Young, who drilled a double to the left-center to make it 9-2.
The Hornets tacked on a run in the sixth when Young beat out an infield hit, Griffith was hit by a pitch and both moved up on a passed ball. Richie Wood’s infield hit brought Young home.
Davidson retired the first batter in the seventh but a bloop single by Mark Lewis followed. Wells, going into the hole at short, robbed Sudderth again for the second out but Andy Ferguson singled in Lewis. Davidson got within a strike of ending it but hit Jordan Rogers with a pitch and Bryant head coach Terry Harper called on Riemenschneider who struck out Greg Noble to end it.
