Six-run third spurs Senior Sox past Benton McClendon’s
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).
In their first game at Bryant High School field since June 25, the Bryant Black Sox Senior American Legion team played a little double derby in the third inning of their Zone 4 contest against Benton McClendon’s Tuesday night. Hayden Lessenberry, Chase Tucker, Dalton Holt and Brandan Warner belted consecutive doubles to highlight a six-run outburst that erased Benton’s 4-0 lead. The Sox went on to an 11-5 win to improve to 34-4 overall this season.
It also clinched the top seed in the Zone 4 Tournament, which starts this Friday at BHS. Third-seeded Benton will play second seed Texarkana in the 4 p.m. game. Bryant will take on the Little Rock Vipers, seeded fourth, at 7.
Both teams used multiple pitchers. The Sox started right-hander Devin Dupree while McClendon’s opened with lefty Jordan Alred. Benton was able to score a pair of runs in the top of the first. Hunter McDade walked and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Jack James. Tyler Lewis singled him in. With two down, Brandon Wilcox chased in Lewis with a base hit up the middle.
Bryant made some noise in the bottom of the first when Trevor Ezell beat out a bad-hop single to third. A one-out walk to Blake Patterson, however, was followed by two outs to end that inning. Then Alred worked a 1-2-3 second after Dupree had done that in the top of the frame.
In the third, however, James singled, stole second, took third on Lewis’ second hit and scored on a squeeze play, beating the throw to the plate by Lessenberry after he fielded Clay Holicer’s bunt. Wilcox made it 4-0 with a sacrifice fly.
Benton went to hard-throwing right-hander Ben Madison in the third and a little control difficulty opened the door for the Sox’ rally. With one out, Ezell walked and stole second. He took third on a wild pitch and, when ball four to Drew Tipton got to the backstop, Ezell scored and Tipton kept on running all the way to second.
The hit barrage followed. Patterson slapped a single to left then scored on the way from first, behind Tipton, on Lessenberry’s long down into the left-field corner. Tucker, Holt and Warner followed with their two-base knocks as Bryant took a 6-4 lead. Trey Breeding made a bid at a fifth consecutive double but his drive to left was tracked down by McDade.
Benton got a double from Cole Southerland to start the top of the fourth but when Wesley Ramsey grounded to Ezell at short, Southerland ran into an out at third. With Ramsey at first, Dupree induced a grounder to Warner at third. He started an around-the-horn doubleplay to get the Sox back in the dugout.
Zac Smiley took over on the mound in the bottom of the fourth and promptly issued walks to the first three batters he faced, Ezell, Tipton and Patterson. With one out, Tucker ripped a single up the middle to drive in two. Holt hit a one-hop shot back at Smiley who fielded it and threw to second, trying to get the force. But there appeared to be confusion about who was taking the throw. James, the shortstop, caught the throw but wasn’t on the bag so all hands were safe.
Moments later, catcher Zac Caplinger and Smiley missed connections on a throw back to the mound. Alertly, Patterson raced home to make it 9-4. And when Smiley issued a walk to Warner, Benton’s coaches turned to Tyler Hamilton in relief. With two down, however, he walked Korey Thompson forcing in the 10th run.
Side-winding Justin Emmerling took over on the mound for Bryant in the top of the fifth and eased through the top of the order. In the sixth, he would strike out the side with the final two K’s coming with the bases loaded. A momentary lapse of command had struck Emmerling, who hit Wilcox and Caplinger then walked Southerland.
The Black Sox added a run in the bottom of the sixth and another double played into it. Warner socked his second two-bagger to open the inning. With one out, Thompson walked and the duo worked a double steal. Ezell’s grounder to second brought home the run.
Nate Rutherford pitched the seventh for Bryant. McDade beat out a swinging bunt for a hit then James shot a base hit through the left side. Lewis grounded to Warner at third resulting in a force at second.
With McDade at third, Holicer rolled one to Thompson on his way to the second base bag. A nice play by the second sacker produced an unassisted force at second. But his rushed throw to first in an attempt to end the game with a doubleplay was wide. McDade scored and Holicer reached first safely.
Rutherford ended it there, though, getting Wilcox to pop out to Warner.
BRYANT 11, BENTON 5
McClendon’s ab r h bi Black Sox ab r h bi
McDade, lf 3 2 1 0 Ezell, ss 3 2 1 1
James, ss 3 1 2 0 Tipton, lf 3 2 0 0
Lewis, cf 4 2 2 1 Patterson, dh 1 2 1 0
Holicer, 3b 3 0 0 2 Phillips, dh 1 0 1 0
Wilcox, rf 2 0 1 2 Lessenberry, 1b 4 1 1 2
Caplinger, c 2 0 0 0 Tucker, cf 4 2 2 3
Southerland, 1b 2 0 1 0 Holt, rf 3 1 1 1
Ramsey, dh-p 3 0 0 0 Caldwell, rf 1 0 0 0
Swain, 2b 3 0 0 0 Warner, 3b 3 1 2 1
Alred, p 0 0 0 0 Breeding, c 3 0 0 0
Madison, p 0 0 0 0 Graddy, c 1 0 0 0
Smiley, p 0 0 0 0 Thompson, 2b 2 0 0 1
Hamilton, p 0 0 0 0 Dupree, p 0 0 0 0
Emmerling, p 0 0 0 0
Rutherford, p 0 0 0 0
Totals 25 5 7 5 Totals 29 11 9 9
Benton 202 000 1 — 5
Bryant 006 401 x — 11
E—McDade, Caplinger, SmileyJames, Holicer. DP—Benton 1, Bryant 1. LOB—Benton 6, Bryant 9. 2B—Lessenberry, Tucker, Holt, Warner 2, Southerland. SB—James, Ezell, Warner, Thompson. S—James, Holicer. SF—Wilcox.
Pitching ip r er h bb so
Benton
Alred 2 0 0 1 1 2
Madison (L) 1 6 6 5 2 0
Smiley 0.1 4 3 1 4 0
Hamilton 1.2 0 0 0 0 2
Ramsey 1 1 1 1 1 0
Bryant
Dupree (W) 4 4 4 5 1 2
Emmerling 2 0 0 0 1 3
Rutherford 1 1 1 2 0 0
HBP—Wilcox, Caplinger (by Emmerling). WP—Dupree, Madison 3, Smiley. PB—Caplinger, Graddy.
