Kehrees, AAA Sox make quick work of Maumelle
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
With huge tournaments including teams from around the region in late June (Mountain Home) and early July (in Alton, Ill., near St. Louis) highlighting the regular season and drawing on the focus and excitement of the Bryant Black Sox AAA American Legion baseball team, it’s a wonder anything is accomplished in between. But, year after year, though they may stumble once, the Sox have usually maintained a quality level of play and added to their win total along the way.
This year, they absorbed a rare loss to Zone 4 rival Pine Bluff after winning the Mountain Home tournament but bounced back. Though they may not have been on top of their game at Searcy on Tuesday, June 26, they managed a comeback win (see related story) and, the next night, they were back in mid-season form with an 8-0 run-rule win over the Maumelle Bulldogs at the Maumelle Diamond Center.
Alex Kehrees tossed the three-hit shutout for the Sox who broke open a 2-0 game with a six-run fourth that included seven of their 13 hits. Ryan Wilson had three hits and drove in three, Aaron Davidson had three hits and drove in two and Tyler Pickett added two hits and an RBI as eight of the nine Sox starters hit safely against Maumelle right-hander Will Clardy.
“The coaches keep us into it,” Wilson said. “They make sure we’re focused throughout or we run.”
Instead, it was the Bulldogs that were running after the game and holding a team meeting behind second base after that.
“The last practice we had after Pine Bluff, I didn’t bring any stats,” recalled Sox manager Craig Harrison. “Usually, I’ll bring stats and we’ll go through it and say, here’s what we want to work on. I said, right now, our focus is here, in the head, and not getting complacent and just trying to maintain that edge that we have and not just coming out here and going through the motions.
“And, I think, one of the keys is them knowing that if they don’t play hard, they’re going to be out there where (the Bulldogs) are,” he continued. “They know if they don’t come to play, we’re going to get it out of them somehow and that may be out in the outfield. But, right now, we don’t have to do that and, hopefully, we won’t.
“I thought we played every out,” Harrison commented regarding the game. “I told the guys, their coach is out there telling them, ‘Look, that team plays every out. They’re not any better than anybody else but they play every out.’ You know, when I hear that from another team and see that he’s out there trying to teach them that — the way we play — it makes you feel good. It makes us know that we’re doing things the right way.”
The team takes a 17-3 record to Alton but, as Wilson indicated, the Sox aren’t resting on their laurels. “We’re getting there,” he said. “Our pitching’s coming through real good, the defense is stout. Hitting’s going to be what it comes down to and I think it’s a lot better than it was in high school.”
Maumelle, a Bryant nemesis last year dealing the Sox a grievous blow in the winners bracket of the State Tournament last summer when the Sox finished runner-up to Pine Bluff, wasn’t of the same caliber and Harrison acknowledged that.
“But you’ve still got to come out and play,” he said. “With a guy throwing that slow, you might look up and realize it’s 2-0 in the fifth inning. The inning we broke it open, we stayed back and hit the ball. We had a couple of bloopers that fell in that helped too.
“Alex threw good again for us,” Harrison added. “He’s throwing strikes right now and when Alex throws strikes, you can do a lot of things with him. We didn’t really have to throw the change-up tonight, he had most of their hitters over-matched. And it just turned out lucky that they had four or five lefties in the lineup.”
Kehrees pitched around a pair of two-out singles in the first and a one-out walk and two-out single in the second then only allowed two baserunners and no more hits the rest of the way. He fanned four and made a nice defensive play on a lead-off bunt in the fifth.
The Sox took a 1-0 lead in the second when Wilson drilled an RBI triple to right center, chasing home Tyler Sawyer, who had singled with one out.
In the third, Davidson singled with two down, Devin Hurt was hit by a pitch and Pickett came through with an RBI knock when he was down to his last strike.
The sixth began with a bloop single by Wilson who then swiped second. A triple by Trent Daniel drove him in. Daniel scored on a base hit by Kaleb Jobe.
Joey Winiecki continued the hit parade with double to the gap in right-center. Jake Jackson followed with a tap to the mound. Clardy caught Jobe in a rundown between third and home but Jobe did a good job of staying in the pickle until Winiecki got safely to third and Jackson hustled to second. That enabled both of them to score on a two-bagger by Davidson, making it 6-0.
Hurt walked, Pickett singled and, with two down, Wilson capped the inning with a two-run single off the tip of the third baseman’s glove.
