The Bryant Hornets, ranked No. 1 in the state by maxpreps.com, haven’t lost in over a month when they fell to No. 2 team Sheridan 2-1 on March 8. The Hornets continued their domination on Tuesday, winning their 15th straight contest with a 12-2 rout over the Catholic Rockets in 6A Central Conference play Tuesday at Hornets Field in Bryant.
The Hornets move to 23-2 overall, a perfect 9-0 in the Central, three and a half games up on second-place Catholic (10-8, 5-3) with five league games remaining.
Bryant senior Will McEntire started and picked up the complete-game win giving up two runs on six hits, striking out seven in six innings.
It looked like Tuesday’s game was on its way to be low-scoring as the Rockets took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third on a solo homer off of McEntire, but it didn’t take long for the Hornet bats to wake up.
Senior Logan Chambers tripled to lead off the bottom of the third and sophomore Noah Davis walked. Junior Austin Ledbetter laid down a squeeze bunt to plate Chambers and reached on an error before junior Cade Drennan knocked in two with a single to left and 3-1 Hornet lead. Junior Gage Stark’s sacrifice fly later in the inning put Bryant up 4-1, which it remained until the fifth inning.
Senior Jake Wright, sophomore Ryan Riggs and Stark all singled to start the bottom of the fifth, with Wright scoring on a wild pitch and Riggs scoring on Stark’s single for the 6-1 lead. After junior Peyton Dillon walked, senior Coby Greiner doubled in Stark and Chambers followed with an RBI single for the 9-1 lead after five.
The Rockets made it a 9-2 game with an RBI double in the top of the sixth, but the Hornets would end it in the bottom of the inning when Wright hit an RBI double, Stark another sac fly and Chambers an RBI single to make it a 12-2 game, invoking the sportsmanship rule of being up 10 runs after five innings.
Chambers finished 3 for 3 with three RBIs, Drennan 2 for 2 with two RBIs, Wright 2 for 3 with two runs and an RBI, Greiner 2 for 4 with an RBI and Stark was 1 for 3 with three RBIs. Riggs and Dillon both had a hit apiece in the win.
The Bryant juggernaut will go for its 16th in a row when the Hornets travel to Little Rock Friday to take on the Central Tigers.