By Rob Patrick

FAYETTEVILLE — On a perfect night, in a perfect place, at a perfect time, the Bryant Hornets’ 2010 season had a perfect ending. The defense was flawless, the offense was opportunistic, and senior right-hander Ben Wells was . . .

Perfect.

Literally.

By Rob Patrick

FAYETTEVILLE — While much was made on this site about the Bryant Hornets switching jerseys to bring the team closer together at what turned out to be the end of a stretch in which they lost seven of eight games, the real reasons for the turnaround that resulted in a nine-game winning streak and a State championship was revealed after Friday night’s game at Baum Stadium.

First, there’s the rock.

When the Hornets ended their six-game 7A-Central Conference losing streak at Lamar Porter Stadium against the Catholic Rockets, student-coach Hunter Alford picked up an unusual flat, round rock and declared that it was the team’s lucky rock. In every game since then, the lucky rock was in Alford’s pocket and it came out for display amid the celebration after Friday night’s 12-0 win over Van Buren in the State championship game at Baum Stadium.

After one inning: Bryant 3, Van Buren 0

After two: Bryant 5, Van Buren 0 

After three: Bryant 10, Van Buren 0 

After four: Bryant 12, Van Buren 0

Final: Bryant 12, Van Buren 0

Wells throws perfect game.

By Rob Patrick

It turns out, the 7A-Central Conference was pretty good in baseball this year.

For a long time, no one knew for sure. There was the novelty of going into the final week of the regular season with a chance that all eight teams would finish tied with 8-8 records.It didn’t turn out that way but the fact that five teams tied for the conference title at 8-6 didn’t indicate anything that the teams were even.

By Rob Patrick

As is the case for most folks who lose a loved one before their time, Kirk Bock doesn’t go a day without remembering his dad.

Billy Bock was an Arkansas legend for his athletic accomplishments and his long list of coaching achievements, a Hall of Famer. He was just 68 years old in 2003 when, after his Pine Bluff Zebras team had played at North Little Rock’s DeJanis Field in Burns Park, he collapsed on the way to the team bus. He passed away July 8 of that year.

By Rob Patrick

NORTH LITTLE ROCK — The sun was low in sky, hovering just above the first-base bleachers at Vince DeSalvo Stadium’s DeJanis Memorial Field in Burns Park Monday night as the game went to the bottom of the second inning.

The Bryant Hornets, battling 7A-Central Conference rival Little Rock Catholic, were coming to bat in a scoreless game that would decide which one would play the Van Buren Pointers for a State championship.

Junior Chris Joiner led off the inning against the Rockets’ sophomore lefty Patrick Gurley and, on a 1-1 pitch, he hit a chopper towards third. On the high hop, Catholic third sacker Matt Morris clearly lost track of the ball. He was unable to find it in time to make a clean play on the short hop and Joiner reached base on a tough error.

It's not every day that an infielder loses a grounder in the sun.

By Rob Patrick

NORTH LITTLE ROCK — When the Bryant Hornets baseball team is playing well — like when they won 15 of third first 16 games at the start of the regular season or when they closed it out with six straight wins — playing from behind is no bid deal. In fact, the Hornets trailed in 11 of their 22 wins going into Saturday’s Class 7A State tournament quarterfinal game against the North Little Rock Charging Wildcats.

Make it 12 of 23.

Down to its last nine outs, Bryant rallied to forge a 2-2 tie in the fifth then scored the go-ahead run in the sixth. Senior ace Ben Wells brought it home from there and the Hornets advanced to the semifinals — a win away from playing for a State championship — with a 3-2 win over their 7A-Central Conference rival.

NORTH LITTLE ROCK — It'll be a rematch.

The Bryant Hornets will take on 7A-Central Conference rival North Little Rock in the second round of the Class 7A State Tournament on Saturday at noon at Burns Park. North Little Rock won its opener, 10-5, over Rogers to advance to the quarterfinal game against the Hornets.

With Conway’s 5-2 win over Russellville and Van Buren’s 6-4 win in extra innings over Cabot, the Bryant Hornets have grabbed the top seed from the 7A-Central Conference to the Class 7A State Tournament.

Bryant was in last place in the league three weeks ago but have put together a six-game winning streak to nab a share of the league championship. 

The league actually wound up in a five-way tie for first place with the Hornets, Conway, Van Buren, North Little Rock and Little Rock Catholic all finishing with 8-6 marks. Little Rock Central, by virtue of the losses by Russellville and Cabot, will be the sixth seed.

The Bryant Hornets junior varsity team closed out its season with two wins in its last three games. In Monday’s finale, they stopped North Little Rock 6-0. On Saturday, they split a pair of games with Sheridan, winning 5-3 then losing 3-1.

The Hornets JV finishes the 2010 season with a 16-3-1 record. Saturday’s loss to Sheridan snapped a 12-game win streak.