There's been nothing flat about Stanley Brice's ascent on Ozark's lineup card. The junior first baseman has risen all the way from backup to clean-up hitter in one season and this week was up to rare challenges presented to him.
He had a pair of hits, drove in a run and was hit by a pitch twice in Ozark’s 7-6 victory versus Springdale Har-Ber on Friday.
On Thursday, Brice followed up home runs by Rylan Sutton and Luke Baer by homering himself for back-to-back-to-back homers in Ozark’s 12-4 win at Lebanon.
“This is my first year playing at the high school level,” Brice said. “Sophomore year, I didn’t get to play a ton and my freshman year I was injured. But last summer, I was playing with our 18U squad and kind of blossomed. Over time, coach (Justin) Sundlie trusted me to drive in runs in the clean-up spot.”
After being hit by a pitch in the first inning Friday, Brice ripped an RBI-double to the center-field wall in the second. He was hit by a pitch again in the fourth and followed up with a single in the sixth.
On his first HBP, Brice took a fast ball to his back. The thud could be heard all over the ballpark.
“That was pretty loud,” he said. “In the moment, I didn’t really feel it. But as the game went on, it hurt a little bit. I’m sure there’s a welt there.”
Just as Brice didn’t let being hit by a pitch deter him, he wasn’t overwhelmed Thursday by t... Click here to read full article
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