NORTH LITTLE ROCK — Blake Patterson scored from third on a one-out bouncer to first off the bat of Evan Lee, snapping a 2-2 tie in the top of the fifth. Right-hander Justin Emmerling worked a 1-2-3 frame in the bottom of the inning to close out a 3-2 win for the Bryant Hornets junior varsity Saturday at Vince DeSalvo Stadium in Burns Park.
Emmerling and Lee, who started the game, combined to hold North Little Rock to three hits. Both runs for the Charging Wildcats JV were unearned.
Lee drove in all three Bryant runs. In the first inning, Dalton Holt and Patterson walked then Dylan Hurt singled to load the bases with two out. Lee followed and sliced a two-run single down the left-field line to make it 2-0.
On the mound, the lefty blanked North Little Rock. The Charging Wildcats’ best chance to score came in the second when a single and a wild pitch had a runner at second with two down. The next batter singled to center. But when the lead runner tried to score from second, the relay from Logan Allen in center to the cut-off man, Patterson, to catcher C.J. Phillips was in time for the tag, ending the inning.
North Little Rock loaded the bases on a hit and two walks in the third but Lee induced a grounder to Connor Tatum at short to end the inning.
Emmerling took over on the mound in the fourth and hit the first batter he faced. An error and a sacrifice had runners at second and third. Another miscue allowed both runners to score to tie the game.
Emmerling and Phillips ended the inning with a strike-‘em-out, throw-‘em-out as the runner for first tried to steal on a third-strike delivery.
Holt had Bryant’s third hit, a two-out single in the fourth. Patterson walked three times. On the third pass, he was bunted to second by Hurt. An errant pickoff throw allowed him to take third before Lee brought him home.
The Bryant JV is 2-0 going into Tuesday’s trip to Benton.
