The Bryant Black Sox were up 1-0 with the bases loaded in the second when cleanup hitter Austin Kelly came to the plate. With Kelly walking to the plate, a Black Sox fan yelled, ‘Hit it out of the park, Austin.’ Kelly obliged on the first pitch, knocking a grand slam over the left-field fence to put Bryant up 5-0 in the second inning in an eventual 10-0 rout of the Texarkana Razorbacks Saturday afternoon in the semifinals of the 2016 AAA Senior State Tournament at Hendrix College in Conway.
The victory sealed a spot in the MidSouth Regional, to be held again at Hendrix, and today’s date in the championship round against the winner of Saturday night’s game. First pitch is at noon today and the Black Sox must be beaten twice to not get their second consecutive state title.
The Bryant offense did its job as did starter Zach “Panda” Jackson. Jackson picked up the win giving up four hits and two walks in six scoreless innings, striking out three in 89 pitches, and retired the final seven batters he faced. Boston Heil struck out one in a scoreless inning of relief, ending the contest early in seven innings due to the sportsmanship rule of being up 10 runs after seven.
“I think he ended up around 90 pitches and we thought he’d be able to do that,” Black Sox Coach Darren Hurt said of Jackson, “being his second start after having a good five days’ rest. I thought he was sharp.”
The Black Sox would the scoring started in the bottom of the first when Dylan Hurt, Garret Misenheimer and Kelly all walked with one out to load the bases. After Hurt was thrown out at home on a fielder’s choice grounder, Jake East came through with two outs with a single up the middle to score Misenheimer for the early 1-0 lead.
“The thing is, their pitcher threw 46 pitches in the first inning and we score one run,” Hurt said. “But, that kind of set the stage with what we were doing. We had great at-bats the whole inning and for them to walk Misenheimer, and Kelly hit the grand slam, that set the tone big-time.”
Kelly hit the granny in the second, after Texarkana intentionally/unintentionally walked Misenheimer, for the 5-0 lead after two, and Bryant put the game well out of reach, especially with Jackson on the mound, with a 4-spot in the third.