Already with the Central No. 1 seed for the 6A State Tournament which begins Friday at noon for the Hornets at Rogers High School when they face the winner of Central No. 5 seed North Little Rock and West No. 4 seed Van Buren, the Bryant Hornets wrapped up the regular season with a 4-3 win over the Conway Wampus Cats on the road Monday to improve to 27-4, 13-1 in the Central.
The Hornets enjoyed a 16-game win streak throughout the season before falling to rival Benton in the Big Red Series and Cabot, its lone Central defeat of the season. Bryant would win its last three games going into the state tournament and used a plethora of pitchers Monday to get ready.
Senior Will McEntire started and pitched a scoreless inning giving up two hits and striking out one, and senior Logan Grant also pitched one inning, striking out two while giving up one run without a hit or a walk. Two hit batters would lead to Conway’s first run.
But, the Hornets were still ahead 2-1 after junior Gage Stark hit his first of two home runs in the top of the second for the 1-0 lead, and senior leadoff Logan Chambers also went deep in the third, an opposite field shot for the 2-0 lead. Conway picked up a run on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the third before taking advantage of two two-out errors to score a couple unearned runs for the 3-2 lead after four.
But, senior Jake Wright reached on a two-out walk in the fifth before Stark went deep again for the 4-3 lead, which stuck.
Stark finished 2 for 3 with two runs and three RBIs, while Chambers was 3 for 3 with a run and RBI. Grant added a 1-for-2 day with a run.
Ledbetter gave up two unearned runs in three innings pitched, giving up four hits and no walks, while striking out three. Senior Coby Greiner surrendered one hit and a walk, striking out one in two scoreless innings of work for the save.