Yant, Lewis sharp in Legion’s debut
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
Not bad for starters.
The Bryant Black Sox AAA American Legion team overmatched the Bauxite Legion team as both teams began the 2001 season at Ashley Stadium Saturday night.
Admittedly, the Sox had held a couple more workouts than their rivals but the result was never in doubt as Bryant cruised to an 8-0 win in five innings.
Bryant’s Scott Yant made an impressive debut. He struck out the first five batters he faced, gave up a single to Ross Brown, then fanned three of the next four with only a bunt breaking that string. Eight of the nine outs for Bauxite in the first three innings came on strikeouts.
Matt Lewis relieved Yant in the fourth, as Bryant manager Craig Harrison stuck to his decision to get as many of his pitchers some work in the early season. Lewis gave up a bloop single to Tommy Gatlin. But Gatlin was mowed down trying to steal and the next five batters were retired — two on strikes and three on grounders to first.
Offensively, the Sox scored in every inning, clinching the run-rule win with two down in the bottom of the fifth, despite only five hits. Eight walks and four Bauxite errors helped.
Cody Graddy, who led the team in home runs as a 16-year-old last summer, cracked his first, a two-run shot in the third.
Bryant scored once in each of the first two innings. In the first, Matt White walked and, when Bauxite’s starting pitcher Jim Kyne unleashed a wild pick-off throw to first, White raced to third. He scored on a passed ball.
In the second, Jordan Davis, in his first American Legion at-bat, slashed the first pitch offered, for a double down the left field line. Chris Sory’s grounder to third resulted in a bad throw to first and runners at first and third for White. His fly to right was dropped allowing Davis to score, making it 2-0.
Graddy’s two-out blast in the third came after a walk to Beau Hamblin and Bryant led 4-0.
In the fourth, a two-out error allowed White to reach base. Yant singled to right center, chasing White to third. A walk to Derek Chambers loaded the bases for Matt Brown who drilled a two-run single up the middle. And when Hamblin singled to left to bring in the third run of the inning, Bryant led 7-0.
Ross relieved Kyne in the fifth and, with his second pitch, hit Lewis. Walks to Cody Dreher and Sory loaded the bases and, an out later, Yant’s sacrifice fly to left provided the game-ending margin.
Sox duo stops Bauxite on two hits in debut
By ROB PATRICK
BRYANT TIMES
A.J. Nixon and Andrew Norman combined on a two-hitter over five innings as the Bryant Black Sox A American Legion team opened the season with a 9-1 run-rule win over Bauxite Saturday at Ashley Stadium.
Bauxite, after hardly more than a single practice, managed a single up the middle with two outs in the first by Jim Kyne against Nixon. Then didn’t have another hit until a two-out single by Joey Hritz in the fifth off of Norman. The lone Bauxite run was unearned.
The Sox took control of the game with a six-run second that featured five of the team’s 10 hits and was aided along by three Bauxite errors.
Jackson Moseley, Daniel Minton and Nixon each had two hits in the game for Bryant.
Bauxite had taken a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when lead-off man Chris Ross drew a walk. Ross was picked off first by Nixon, but an errant throw during the subsequent rundown allowed him to reach second. A passed ball allowed him to go to third as Nixon fanned the next two hitters. Kyne then singled up the middle to drive in the run.
The Sox surged ahead in the bottom of the inning. Doubles by Moseley and Clay Jones tied it. With David Moore at the plate, Jones advanced to third on a wild pitch and raced home on a late throw that got past the third baseman.
Nixon fanned the first two he faced in the second then a walk, a balk and an error put runners at the corners. Josh Seamon, the runner at first, took off for second on the first pitch to Ross and Moore gunned him down to end the inning.
Justin Woods was hit by a pitch from Seamon to start the Bryant second. Minton then beat out an infield hit. That brought up Patrick McBride in a sacrifice situation. McBride got the bunt down and Seamon fielded it but followed with a bad throw to first. McBride took off for second as Hritz, the Bauxite first baseman, chased down the ball. Hritz then unleashed a wild throw to second and, when the dust cleared, both Woods and Minton had scored.
A wild pitch sent McBride to third and he scored on a bloop single to right by Drew Davasher.
B.J. Wood kept the inning going with a liner to right for a base hit. And, when the throw back to the infield was off, he raced to second as Davasher pulled into third.
Moseley brought Davasher home with a sacrifice fly to left then Nixon cracked an RBI double to right-center to make it 7-1. Walks to Jones and Woods loaded the bases for Minton, who capped off the inning with an RBI single through the hole on the left side of the infield.
Nixon worked around a walk in the top of the third then gave way to Norman in the fourth. Wood made a tremendous over-the-shoulder catch on a bloop fly behind shortstop to open the fourth. Norman issued a pair of walks but left both runners stranded when he fanned Seamon.
The Sox added a run in the bottom of the inning when Moore walked, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a two-out single by McBride.
Norman retired the first two in the fifth on liners to Woods at third. Hritz then singled up the middle and Kyne reached on an error. But Norman ended it there, with three straight strikes to Ross Brown.
