By Rob Patrick
PINE BLUFF, Ark. — Two teams going in opposite directions met at Taylor Field on Saturday afternoon. One, the Bryant Hornets, were coming off an exhilarating victory at North Little Rock to earn the championship of the 7A-Central Conference, the first for a Bryant team since 2005.
Confident.
The other, the Pine Bluff Zebras, were coming off a doubleheader loss to 6A-South Conference rival El Dorado that not only prevented them from going to all but the last 30 minutes of their prom but left them on the outside looking in at post-season play.
Dejected.
The result was no surprise but the Hornets got a bit of a scare in another way when senior Tyler Sawyer was shaken up briefly on a play at the plate in the game-breaking six-run sixth.
Bryant continued to roll with an 11-0 win in six innings highlighted by another impressive pitching performance from freshman Jordan Taylor who finished with the three-hit shutout, fanning eight and walking just one.
Brennan Bullock and Justin Blankenship each had two hits for the Hornets. Blankenship's included his first home run of the season, a two-run shot in the first inning.[more]
"In 1983, when I played here at Pine Bluff, it wasn't 'if' we were going to win, it was how bad we were going to win," recalled Hornets head coach Kirk Bock. "And our kids are starting to get that kind of confidence. They felt like they were going to win this game. They just didn't know when it was going to happen and how bad it was going to happen and that's good.
"Right now, if we can ever get something going (offensively), it just kind of snowballs," he added. "We just need to get it going more often."
They got it going in the first. Caleb Garrett led the game off with a double to right-center on which Pine Bluff outfielders Darrell Broady and Jeffrey Garrison collided. Chris Joiner followed with a bunt that drew a bad throw to first allowing him to reach safely as Garrett took third. Joiner swiped second and, an out later, Kaleb Jobe looped a single to left to drive in the first run and extend his hitting streak to 16 games. He's hit safely in 21 of the 25 games in which he's played and in the four games in which he didn't hit, he reached base on eight walks.
Tyler Sawyer followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0 then Blankenship ripped 2-1 pitch deep over the fence in right.
Taylor surrendered a two-out single in the bottom of the first but struck out the side around that. With the third strikeout, he started a stretch in which he retired eight in a row. A walk ended that streak with one out in the fourth and Deion Smith followed with a hit-and-run single through the vacated hole at second. But Jobe threw out Smith trying to steal and Taylor got Alex McDonald to fly to right.
After that, the only Pine Bluff base runner was Darrell Broady who doubled to right-center with on out in the fifth.
"He spotted up well," Bock noted. "He threw it where he needed to throw it. The umpire had a low zone and he was just keeping it down there. He left a couple of them up but he's young. He's going to be a good one."
The Hornets threatened in the second but didn't score again until the fourth when Bullock singled, took second on Tyler Brown's sacrifice, and third on a sacrifice by Garrett. A wild pitch followed, making it 5-0.
It stayed that way until they got it going in the sixth. Again Bullock was the instigator with a base hit to left. Brown got down another sacrifice bunt and, again, a bad throw allowed him to reach. Bullock hustled around to third when it was left uncovered. So second was open for pinch-runner Jacob Clark to steal. Butler singled in a run then Garrett was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Joiner, who blooped an RBI single to right to make it 7-0.
Hunter Mayall followed with a liner to left for a two-run single. With Joiner headed to third, Pine Bluff shortstop Claude Johnson took the throw from the outfield and fired toward third only to hit the Bryant baserunner in the back. Joiner got in safely and Mayall took second on the ricochet.
Steven Todle came on in relief of Smith and he got Jobe to ground to second but Joiner scored. Sawyer walked and Blankenship singled to make it 11-0. When the ball was bobbled in center, Sawyer continued to third and Blankenship took second. With the infield back, Bullock hit a short grounder to second. Surprisingly, the Zebras' Torey Deshazier sent a throw home. Sawyer came in and appeared to catch his spike as he tried to get down into a slide. He was tagged out and stayed down for a while. Eventually, he was able to get up, though, and walk off on his own power.
"It was scary," Bock acknowledged. "I think he's going to be okay. We're fixing to ice him down and see. I already ran for him (after a fifth-inning walk). If I'd have ran for him then (in the sixth), we would've lost him. I would've run for him if I hadn't earlier. I wanted him back out at shortstop. In hindsight, I wish I would've went on and run somebody and gotten him out of the game."
The win improved the Hornes to 21-7 with their final contest at home on Monday, April 27, against Lake Hamilton. Bock said Caleb Milam will get the start as a tune-up for State. The Hornets will open the State Tournament at the Randall Tyson Sports Complex in Springdale on Saturday, May 2, against the winner of the game between the fourth seed from the West (either Bentonville or Rogers) and the five seed from the Central (probably North Little Rock or Cabot).
BRYANT 11, PINE BLUFF 0
Hornets Zebras
ab r h bi ab r h bi
Garrett, cf 2 2 1 0 Garrison, rf 3 0 0 0
Joiner, dh 3 2 1 1 Deshazier, 2b 3 0 0 0
Mayall, 3b 4 1 1 2 Johnson, ss 2 0 1 0
K.Jobe, c 4 0 1 2 Smith, p-3b 2 0 1 0
Wade, cr 0 1 0 0 McDonald, 1b 2 0 0 0
Sawyer, ss 1 0 1 1 Todle, 3b-p 2 0 0 0
E.Jobe, pr 0 0 0 0 Broady, cf 2 0 1 0
Blankenship, rf 4 1 2 3 Harper, lf 2 0 0 0
Bullock, lf 4 2 2 0 Baker, c 2 0 0 0
Brown, 2b 1 0 0 0
Clark, pr 0 1 0 0
Benning, 2b 1 0 0 0
Butler, 1b 1 1 1 1
Taylor, p 0 0 0 0
Totals 24 11 10 10 Totals 20 0 3 0
BRYANT 400 106 — 11
Pine Bluff 000 000 — 0
E—Smith 2, Harper, Todle, Johnson, Broady. LOB—Bryant 6, Pine Bluff 3. 2B—Garrett, Broady. HR—Blankenship. SB—Johnson, Joiner, Wade, Garrett, Clark. S—Joiner, Butler, Brown 2, Garrett. SF—Sawyer.
ip r er h bb so
Bryant
Taylor (W, 3-1) 6 0 0 3 1 8
Pine Bluff
Smith (L) 5 11 6 9 2 0
Todle 1 0 0 1 1 0
HBP—Garrett (by Smith). WP—Smith.
Rick Nation
Congrats again guys! Keep pounding and stay focused. The state title is within reach, but it’s one game at a time. Good luck!