Hornets defeat Deridder to open Invite
– Having to move their Thursday morning opening game of the Robinson Invitational to Friday morning due to Thursday storms, the Bryant Hornets picked up a 6-2 win over Deridder (Louisiana) at Hornet Field in Bryant as the Hornets are hosting half of the bracket. The win improves the Hornets to
12-1 overall on the season as they also played the winner of Lake Hamilton and Arkadelphia Friday night, with a possible 10 a.m. game this morning as teams try to work through the early postponements.
Though the Hornets won comfortably, it was not a pretty showing, according to Bryant Coach Travis Queck, as Bryant had three errors in the game.
“It wasn’t a clean game by any means,” Queck said. “We’ve got some opportunities for guys to step up and find their roles and that’s what we’re continuing to find and look for. It just wasn’t a clean game. Defensively we made too many mistakes.
“It was lack of preparation on my part. I’m going to go back to the drawing board and try to help these guys out, prepare for the games a lot better. There are good talking points, though, so we can talk about it and get it fixed.”
On Friday morning, the Hornets would strike first in the bottom of the first when senior leadoff man Ryan Riggs walked and went to second on senior Noah Davis’ single. Riggs scored on senior Austin Ledbetter’s
hard single to left for the early 1-0 lead after one.
Deridder was gifted a run in the top of the second to tie things up as a walk, sacrifice bunt and pop out had
a runner on second before an error kept the inning alive. Deridder capitalized as a balk by junior starting pitcher Turner Seelinger made it a 1-1 game after one and a half.
The Hornets got that run back and more in the bottom of the inning as senior Garrett Wilson tripled on a
1-2 count before a strikeout ensued. Sophomore Jordan Knox was hit by a pitch and Wilson scored on a double steal before Riggs singled in Knox for the 3-1 lead after two.
Bryant gave itself some breathing room in the fourth as Riggs doubled and Davis was hit by a pitch with both
runners tagging up to second and third on Ledbetter’s pop out to first. Riggs scored on the same play before senior Jackson Parker’s squeeze bunt plated Davis, and junior Connor Martin, who walked, scored on Seelinger’s single to left for the 6-1 advantage.
Freshman reliever Gideon
Motes would give up a lone run in the top of the seventh on a couple singles and a walk to set the 6-2 final.
Seelinger earned the win giving up just an unearned run on one hit and one walk, striking out six in three innings pitched because of pitch count. Motes gave up a run on two hits and three
walks in four innings of work.
At the plate, Riggs went 2 for 3 with a double, two runs and an RBI, with Ledbetter, Parker and Seelinger adding a hit and RBI apiece. Davis and Wilson added a hit and run in the victory.