AMERICAN LEGION STATE

Brown finishes error-prone foe

— Bryant and relief pitcher Tyler Brown made short work of Paragould 7-Up on Monday night.

Using only 41 pitches in his four innings on the mound, Brown retired the final 12 batters he faced as the Black Sox eliminated Paragould with a 12-2, seven-inning victory in the American Legion senior state tournament at Desalvo Stadium in North Little Rock’s Burns Park.

“Our goal was to keep the pitch counts down tonight and Tyler did exactly what we needed,” Bryant Manager Darren Hurt said. “We needed low pitch-count innings and that’s what we got.”

Bryant (31-5) plays Texarkana in today’s championship game. Texarkana must defeat Bryant twice to advance to the Mid-South Regional, which begins Aug. 9, in New Orleans.

Jordan Taylor and William Daniel each hit two-run singles to pace Bryant’s 12-hitattack.

Mistake-prone Paragould (28-18) had four errors and two passed balls. Four of Bryant’s runs were unearned.

Even without the miscues, Paragould had a tough time against starter Nathan Rutherford and Brown. Rutherford struck out four and gave up two hits in three innings. Brown struck out three. Neither issued any walks.

Paragould’s Gunner Pitts doubled off Brown to start the fourth and Brown hit Logan Murray with a pitch to place runners on first and second.

Brown then retired the next 12 batters. He had an eight-pitch fifth inning and a four-pitch sixth.

“[Brown] wasn’t going to go that long, but that four pitch inning bought him another inning,” Hurt said. “That was good.”

Bryant took control early, scoring four runs in the first. Singles by Hunter Mayall, Taylor and Landon Pickett loaded the bases. Tyler Nelson put down a suicide squeeze bunt that Paragould starting pitcher Matthew Wail threw into right field.

Three runs scored on the error and Nelson advanced to third. Marcus Wilson followed with a sacrifice fly to center.

TEXARKANA RAZORBACKS 3, ROGERS OPTIMIST 2

Blake White said he was tired coming into Monday’s game with Rogers.

His weariness never showed.

White struck out seven and pitched a complete game in leading Texarkana to a victory.

Rogers (24-10) totaled six hits against White, who had failed to get out of the second inning in Friday’s opener against Bentonville.

“He definitely showed some resilency after his outing on Friday,” Texarkana Coach Dane Peavy said. “For him to come in and give us nine innings, that’s a heckuva job right there.”

“I was a little tired, but I knew I had to work through it,” White said. “Today I did a little better stretching out before the game. It was just something simple.”

Texarkana (30-11) never trailed Monday. The Razorbacks scored a run in both the first and second innings and held that 2-0 lead until the seventh.

Hunter Wilcher doubled in Texarkana’s first run. In the second inning, Ethan Russell doubled, moved to third on Kyle Duncan’s single and scored on Luke McGuire’s infield grounder.

Rogers starter Zach Sample settled down the second inning and allowed only two more hits in the next four innings. Sample struck out four and walked no one in six innings. Reed Brown gave up a run on four hits in three innings of relief.

But Monday belonged to White, who set down 10 consecutive batters from the third to the seventh innings.

“Blake has a live fastball,” Peavy said. “He hides the ball well and he’s got a little run on his fastball that keeps it away from the lefties. When he throws his curve balls for strikes, you know he’s on. If he doesn’t, then you better get him out of there fast.”

Orin Orlapp drew a walk to start the seventh, moved to third on a single by Jacob Kent and scored when Camdon Myers hit into a double play.

Texarkana got the run back in the eighth when Alan Copeland singled, moved to third on Brennan Watkins’ single and scored on an error.

Rogers cut the lead to 3-2 in the bottom of the eighth when Zach Stewart doubled and eventually scored on a wild pitch.

At a glance

MONDAY’S GAMES Texarkana 3, Rogers 2

Rogers eliminated Bryant 12, Paragould 2, 7 innings

Paragould eliminated

TODAY’S GAME Texarkana vs. Bryant, 4:30 p.m.

*Texarkana vs. Bryant, 30 minutes following first game * - If necessary

Sports, Pages 17 on 07/31/2012

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