2-out runs help lift Bryant over North Little Rock

It got a little uncomfortable at times, but Bryant defeated North Little Rock 9-6 on Friday afternoon in a 6A-Central Conference baseball game at Burns Park in North Little Rock.

The Hornets (13-3, 7-0) took control of the game with six runs — all scored after two outs had been recorded — in the first four innings then held on against the Charging Wildcats (4-10, 1-5).

In the first innings after the first two batters were retired on three pitches, Bryant grabbed a 3-0 lead on four hits. Ridge Southerland’s single to center scored Gideon Motes and Jace Ruffner. Hank Pennifield followed with an RBI single to left and it was 3-0.

In the second, Ruffner added an RBI double to left that scored Blake Scoggins for a 4-0 lead. Ruffner added a run-scoring single in the fourth for a 5-0 cushion.

“We talk about extending an inning all the time, and we did a good job of that,’’ Bryant Coach Garrett Bock said. “And we finally got the leadoff man on later in the game, and that obviously helped.”

Meanwhile, University of Michigan commit Gideon Motes worked four innings, and allowed just one hit, a single by Jackson Estes, and a walk.

“This was just his second start of the year and we were trying to get him under 50 pitches and he did that and did a real good job pitching to contact, early contact,’’ Bock said.

Grant Johnson’s RBI single made it 6-0 in the fifth inning.

North Little Rock broke through in the fifth, with Brett Faulkner scoring on Blane Theodore’s single. The Charging Wildcats made it 6-3 in the sixth on singles by Bryce Higgins and Cooper Taylor.

But Bryant added three runs in the seventh. Kolby Duncan drove in two with a single to left and Motes drew a bases-loaded walk for the final run.

“North Little Rock did a good job fighting back and we just didn’t make the plays that we needed to make right there at the end,’’ Bock said.

The Charging Wildcats were not through. In the home seventh they loaded the bases and Aiden Sartain singled to center to drive in a run, Will Jones drove in another with fielder’s choice and Estes, an Arkansas State commit who had three hits in the game, added another RBI. The game ended on a strikeout with the tying run at the plate.

“We are playing OK,’’ Bock said. “We have a lot to clean up to be a championship team and we have to play a full game. We have done that a couple of times this year but not near enough.”