VAN BUREN — Matt Neal pitched a one-hit shutout over five innings, striking out nine, as the Bryant Hornets junior varsity forged a 6-0 win over the Van Buren JV on Thursday.
The Pointers’ lone hit was a single to open the bottom of the first. The only other baserunner came on a two-out walk in the bottom of the fifth.[more]
Bryant took the lead in the top of the second. A walk to Tyler Brown opened the inning. Josh Pultro got down a sacrifice bunt and reached safely himself when the ball came loose as he was being tagged on his way to first. A walk to Dylan Cross loaded the bases and when Hayden Lessenberry was hit by a pitch, the first run scored. An out later, Evan Jobe lined a single to right-center that plated Pultro and Cross to end the inning.
The Hornets added a run in the fourth when Cross doubled down the left-field line and scored on a pair of passed balls.
In the fifth, Landon Pickett’s one-out single got Bryant going again. With two down, Brown singled to left and Pultro shot a liner to deep left for an RBI single. Cross came up with his second hit on a bloop single to left-center bringing home Brown to make it 6-0.
The Bryant JV is scheduled to play again Saturday at Lake Hamilton.
