BRYANT - Placed in a familiar situation, Tucker Hydrick came through for the Jonesboro Ricemen in Saturday's opening round of the American Legion AAA State Tournament.
Hydrick's ninth-inning ground ball took a couple of detours before it dribbled safely into shallow center field, but the two-out, two-run single snapped an 8-8 tie and the Ricemen eventually held on for a 10-9 victory over Fort Smith Kerwins in a game that featured 27 hits and six errors.
"I saw a fastball that I could really drive so I just took my chance and jumped on it," Hydrick said. "The ball got into the hole and I got lucky."
Jonesboro loaded the bases with one out in the ninth, but the Ricemen's first opportunity to break the tie failed when Seth Eakin hit into a force play that cut down Nick Brown at the plate. Hydrick, however, drove Harvey Hayden's pitch back up the middle, where it took an unusual bounce. Drew Person made a diving attempt to keep the ball in the infield, but the ball glanced off the second baseman's glove to score both Austen Martin and Nic Bearce.
"That hit was huge," Jonesboro Manager Brandon Eller said. "He had a big hit in the zone [tournament] elimination game last week just to get us here. He had a game-winner in the ninth against Blytheville. He's done a great job for us this year."
Jonesboro (25-14) advanced to tonight's 7 o'clock winners' bracket game. Kerwins (26-3) will play in the 1 p.m. losers' bracket game.
Two two-out infield errors in the bottom of the ninth gave Kerwins a chance to tie, but with runners at the corners, winning pitcher Tyler Cole got Hunter Wilson to ground out to second to the end the game.
"Cole is a competitor. He wanted the ball," Eller said. "He had only pitched 3 2/3 innings to that point, so he's was more than ready to finish the game."
Cole allowed only one hit and pitched around the two errors in the ninth. He finished with three strikeouts, walking one and hitting a batter.
Jonesboro's Mason Gibson slugged a two-run home run in the first inning and finished 4 for 6 with 4 RBI. Hydrick was 2 for 5 with 3 RBI and Dillon Groves was 2 for 4 with 2 RBI.
Kerwins, which collected 10 of its 11 hits in the first five innings, picked up three RBI from Micheal Rhea - a two-run single and a sacrifice fly - and two hits each from Person, Wilson, Jordan Lawrence and Jake Herrel.
Kerwins starter Jordan Miller allowed 11 hits in 4 2/3 innings. He struck out five and walked one. Harvey allowed six hits in 4 1/3 innings. He struck out three and walked two.
Jonesboro;200 410 012 -- 10 16 4
Fort Smith;013 220 001 -- 9 11 2
Brown, Cole (5) and Groves. Miller, Harvey (5) and Herrel. W -- Cole. L --Harvey. HR - Mason Gibson.
MOUNTAIN HOME LOCKERROOM 9,
JACKSONVILLE GWATNEY 3
Mason Smith survived a rocky start to shut down Jacksonville.
The Mountain Home lefthander was touched for two runs on three hits in the first inning, but he allowed only five hits the rest of the way.
"The first couple of innings, Mason didn't exactly have his best stuff, but he kept pounding the strike zone," Mountain Home Manager Lester White. "He kept working and he found it. We made some good plays behind him and got him some runs."
Shortstop Hayden Hall doubled twice and drove in three runs to lead the Mountain Home hitters. Kyle Stephens was 3 for 3 with 2 RBI. Brody Ninemire also drove in two runs with a two-out double in the fifth inning. Austin Gardner scored four runs.
James Tucker banged out a two-run double in the first inning for Jacksonville, but the only other run it could manage came on a sacrifice fly by Greg Jones in the fifth inning.
Smith (7-2) struck out five, walked four and hit a batter. He allowed only three hits in the final five innings and retired the final six batters he faced.
Hall, Gardner, Skylar Culver and Austin Jacobelli each had two hits in Mountain Home's 13 hit attack.
Derek St. Clair took the loss. St. Clair, Blake Perry and Tucker all had two hits for Jacksonville.
Mountain Home;300;030;201 -- 9 13 0
Jacksonville;200;010;000 -- 3 8 0
Smith and Brody.St. Clair, Tucker (5), Hawkins (8) and Jones. w - Smith. L - St. Clair.
TEXARKANA RAZORBACKS 3,
CABOT CENTENNIAL BANK 1
Zac Harrington pitched a complete game, allowing nine hits while striking out four in leading defending state champion Texarkana (29-10) over Cabot (19-12).
Texarkana advances to play Mountain Home (21-12) in tonight's Texarkana got all it needed in the second inning when Landon Russo scored on a balk and Nathan Stubber followed with a double that scored Nick Myers.
Cabot cut Texarkana's lead to 2-1 in the fifth when Landon Jones hit a sacrifice fly that scored Connor Vocque.
Myers scored in the eighth inning on a throwing error -- the fourth Cabot error of the inning -- to complete the scoring. Myers and Jake Alexander each had two hits for the Razorbacks.
Harrington, who will be a senior at Magnolia this fall, walked two and hit three batters. He allowed Cabot to place the lead-off batter on base in four of the final five innings, but he gave up only four singles during that span.
Lee Sullivan took the loss for Cabot. Sullivan struck out six in six inning innings. He walked two and gave up seven hits.
Adam Hicks was 4 for 5 for Cabot. Jones was 2 for 4. All nine of Cabot's hits were singles.
Cabot;000 010 000 -- 1 9 4
Texarkana;020 000 01x -- 3 7 2
Sullivan, Hicks (7) and Bulice. Harrington and Russo. W -- Harrington. L -- Sullivan.
BRYANT BLACKSOX 12,
NORTH LITTLE ROCK COLTS 2
Trevor Ezell tripled to start the game and the hits just kept coming for the host team.
Ezell, who played at Bryant High School and was the All-Arkansas Preps Baseball Player for 2014, also tripled in the second and doubled in a run in the seventh. He finished 4 for 5 with three runs scored as the Blacksox (37-4) advanced in the winners’ bracket to play Jonesboro tonight. North Little Rock (16-7) plays Fort Smith Kerwins in an elimination game at 1 p.m. Bryant came up with five runs on six hits in the first inning. The Blacksox also had a five-run fourth inning, using four hits and three North Little Rock errors to increase their lead to 11-0.
Four Bryant pitchers combined for a two-hitter. Starter Nate Rutherford struck out four in three innings. Devon Dupree allowed only one hit in two innings of work. Austin Caldwell and Dalton Holt each worked an inning.
Chase Tucker, Hayden Lessenberry and Justin Emmerling all drove in two runs for Bryant. North Little Rock’s runs came on a single by Jouani Gonzalez and on a fielder’s choice by Jack Partlow.
Bryant............................ 510 500 0 — 12 14 2 North Little Rock ...................000 000 2 — 2 4 3 Rutherford, Dupree (4), Caldwell (6), Holt (7) and Lessenberry, Phillips (7). Thomas, Johnson (4) and Gonzalez. W — Dupree. L — Thomas.
Sports on 07/27/2014