Page 4 - TL Diamond Roundup March 2017

4TT
SUNDAY, MARCH 19, 2017
| TRI-LAKES EDITION OF THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE BASEBALL & SOFTBALL REVIEW
BRYANT HORNETS
National championship still focus for Bryant
BY SAM PIERCE
STAFF WRITER
The No. 1 goal for the Bryant Hornets baseball team is to win a national championship.
“Our goal has always been to win a national championship,” first-year head coach Travis Queck said. “I just hope to carry on the torch. “We are always going to keep striving for it, I don’t know if we will ever reach it, but if we don’t always strive for it, we will definitely never reach it.” Queck said that in order to compete for a national championship, Bryant has to play out-
of-state teams.
“The competition here is not perceived to
be as vast, and there are not many teams they would call national qualifiers,” Queck said. “That’s why we go to Texas, and that’s why we go to Florida. You have to do well, you have to win those games, and you have to win all your games in Arkansas.
“For that to happen, you can call it luck, or you can call it getting your job done and let ev- erybody else figure it out from there.”
He said that last season, under veteran coach Kirk Bock, Bryant finished second in the nation, according to one publication. The Hornets finished 28-2 and 13-1 in the con- ference, with their only loss to Conway in the regular season.
The Hornets defeated Conway for the 7A State Championship in Fayetteville. It was the program’s fourth state title since 2010.
“We have had a lot of success over the last eight and nine years,” Queck said. “A lot of that is contributed to Coach Bock and coach [Terry] Harper before him, setting up the foundation of where we are now.”
Conference: 7A Central
Coach: Travis Queck
Assistant coaches: Stephen Tharp,
Guy Brown and Jacob Roper 2016 record: 28-2 overall;
13-1 conference
Mascot: Hornets
Returning starters: Seth Tucker and
Beaux Bonvillain
HORNETS continued on 6TT
BRYANT HORNETS
PHOTOS BY JUSTIN MANNING/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER Top: Senior outfielder Cameron Coleman takes a swing during a game against Arkadelphia in Bryant. Bottom: Bryant’s senior pitcher Seth Tucker throws a pitch during the game against Arkadelphia.
MARCH 19-25 .......... @FLORIDA TOURNAMENT MARCH 28............................... LR CENTRAL* MARCH 31........... @FORT SMITH SOUTHSIDE* APRIL 3 ......................................... @BENTON APRIL 4 ............................................ CABOT* APRIL 7 ..................... @NORTH LITTLE ROCK* APRIL 11 ....................................... CONWAY* APRIL 14 ............. @FORT SMITH NORTHSIDE* APRIL 18 ................................. LR CATHOLIC*
APRIL 20 ............... @LITTLE ROCK CHRISTIAN APRIL 21 ............................... @LR CENTRAL* APRIL 25 ............... SOUTHSIDE FORT SMITH* APRIL 28 ....................................... @CABOT* MAY 2 .......................... NORTH LITTLE ROCK* MAY 5 ......................................... @CONWAY* MAY 8 ........................................ @SHERIDAN
*DENOTES CONFERENCE GAMES