Bryant notches 8th straight
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).
By ROB PATRICK
BRYANT TIMES
SHERWOOD — For the second time this season, American Legion games at Bryant High School Field had to be moved or cancelled because of a sprinkler problem when the AAA Blacksox were scheduled to host the Sylvan Hills Bruins on Thursday, July 11.
The sprinklers, which were still on at 1 p.m. had left the baselines from homeplate to halfway to the bags under three or four inches of water with no one available to work it over and dry it out before the 7 p.m. game.
So the Sox took to the road and, at Sherwood’s Kevin McReynolds Complex, they handed the Bruins an 8-5 loss in a scheduled nine-inning game, extracting some good out of a frustrating evening.
Cody Graddy had three hits and Matt White, Derek Chambers and Andrew Norman had two each as the Sox pounded out 15 hits in support of a quartet of Bryant hurlers. David Moore clubbed his first homer of the season.
Right-hander Justin Woods came within an out of going the necessary five innings to record the win but couldn’t get out of a fifth-inning jam without help from Jeff Carpenter. Carpenter earned the win with relief help from B.J. Wood and Chance King, who earned his fifth save of the season.
The Sox jumped out to a 7-0 lead then had to hold on at the end.
“We were hitting the baseball pretty good early, scored some runs, got on top then kind of went flat,” commented Bryant manager Craig Harrison after the game. “It’s hot out here and we’re still a little tired. We threw some guys that needed work. Justin threw well for four but it just seems like when he gets to the fifth, he hits a wall. He was on a good pitch count going into the fifth. He just couldn’t get that last out. I really wanted him to go five (and get the win) but I didn’t want to jeopardize the game so we brought Jeff in.
“We walked too many,” Harrison said. “We were lucky to win but we held on. We have found a new role for Chance. He seems to enjoy the closer’s role and it’s a good fit for him.”
Sylvan Hills benefited from nine walks and two hit batsmen. But the Bruins could muster only five hits.
The Bruins’ starter Brent Mason couldn’t get through two innings. He allowed a run in the first, issuing three walks to go with singles by Wood and White. Kevin Littleton drew the RBI pass.
In the second, the first six Sox reached base, starting with a walk to Moore and a single by Norman. Wood bounced to first but a bad throw to second prevented the force there and allowed Moore to score. Carpenter doubled in a run and, after White walked, Graddy singled to make it 4-0.
Moore’s solo shot led off the third then White opened the fourth with a triple. He scored on a wild pitch before Graddy lined a double to left-center. Groundouts by Littleton and Chambers brought Graddy around with the seventh run.
Woods had a one-hit shutout going up until then. A pair of walks to start the bottom of the fourth came back to haunt him as Justin Franco doubled both in.
But Woods kept it at that, retiring the next three.
In the fifth, however, a walk and an error put him under the gun again. White made a stunning running catch of a long fly to center by Cody Duncan for the first out. Woods then got Seth Weinberg to ground to Wood at short. But Mason, the runner at first was on the move with the pitch and the Bruins avoided the inning-ending doubleplay as Wood had to throw to first.
That, however, is when Woods lost track of the strike zone again. He hit Danny Hurt and walked Franco to load the bases and bring up the potential tying run in Elijah Peters. But Carpenter relieved and got Peters to fly out to Clay Jones in right.
The Bruins added a run in the sixth and might’ve had more had White not tracked down another long drive off Weinberg’s bat to end the inning.
Carpenter gave up a lead-off single in the seventh and Wood was called on to relieve. The Bruins loaded the bases around a pair of strikeouts but Wood got Jordan Verdell to pop to Carpenter at third to end the threat.
Bryant added a reassuring insurance run in the top of the eighth. Graddy singled, Littleton sacrificed and Chambers slapped a run-scoring base hit to left.
A walk, a balk and a single allowed the Bruins to answer that run in the bottom of the inning but that’s all they could get as Littleton pulled down a liner in left off Franco’s bat to end the inning.
Wood issued a walk to open the bottom of the ninth and King came in. A stellar defensive play by Scotty Yant behind second base, retiring the first batter King faced helped send the Bruins packing.
Afterwards, Harrison contemplated the problems at Bryant Field, saying, “I’m really disappointed. It’s more of the same. I just don’t have time to go out there and fix it. Especially when we ask over and over and over again, please turn the water off. It’s enough time taken just with coaching, which I enjoy to the utmost — I love being around these kids — but we just don’t get any help. The lights at the field, they said they were going to fix those before the season started and here we are with just a couple of home games left and there’s still six of them turned the wrong way. The field’s hard as a rock and rough. It looks nice but it’s not in real good shape and we’re hosting the District Tournament there in two weeks. I don’t know, it’s frustrating.”
