Van Buren hurler handcuffs Bulldogs

The Van Buren Pointers started a big week off with a big win. Junior Trevor Johnson baffled Fayetteville, twirling a three-hitter in a 2-0 win on Monday at the Field of Dreams. Van Buren (18-5, 8-3) stays a game up on Bentonville, which beat Bentonville West on Monday, for third place in the 7A-West behind Springdale Har-Ber and Rogers, which both won on Monday and finish their seasons on Tuesday. Van Buren hosts Bentonville at noon on Saturday for a makeup doubleheader. Van Buren first travels to Fayetteville today (16-11, 7-6) for the second game of the home-and-away series. “That was a big game for us, a big one for both teams, trying to get as high of a seed as we can get,” Van Buren head coach David Loyd said. “They’re all big. That was important game, and we have another shot at them (Tuesday). You know it’s always going to be a battle, and it will be again.” Johnson went the distance for the Pointers on Monday, mixing in a wicked slider to go with a live fastball. He struck out 10, including eight on called third strikes. “My stuff was pretty good,” Johnson said. “I threw my fastball, and hit my spots.” Johnson gave up a double in the first inning and after a wild pitch stranded the runner with two straight strikeouts. He gave up two walks and in the second inning, and Fayetteville had a base-running gaffe that saved that inning. Van Buren 2, Fayetteville 0 Fayetteville 000 000 0 — 0 3 0 Van Buren 100 010 x — 2 4 0 Davenport, Trivitt (6) and Tate; Johnson and Rauser. W — Johnson. L — Davenport. HRs — none. *** More high school baseball Then Johnson retired 13 batters in a row before yielding consecutive two-out singles in the sixth inning. Johnson ended the inning with another called third strike, but the 26-pitch inning jumped his pitch count to 97 going into the seventh. “I knew I had 13 pitches to throw,” Johnson said. “I was trying to get those first-pitch strikes on all three of the batters and hopefully they’d swing and hit the ball.” Johnson struck out the first batter on four pitches, got an 0-2 fly ball for the second out, and then needed four pitches to get the final out on another called third strike. “He was close with the pitch count,” Loyd said. “That was his last batter. He was going to battle to the end, and we know that. You don’t want to take him out because he’s going to give you everything he’s got until it’s over.” Van Buren managed just four hits off Fayetteville starter Luke Davenport, but three of them were doubles by Landry Wilkerson. Wilkerson scored both of Van Buren’s runs. “Their guy pitched really, really well,” Loyd said. “Landry hit the ball well, but he kept us in check. We got just enough.” Wilkerson doubled into the gap in right center in the bottom of the first inning, took third on a wild pitch and scored on a ground ball by Evan Jones. In the fifth, Wilkerson doubled to the opposite field into the left field corner, again went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly by Jones. That was the scoring for the game, and neither team had an error. “It was a well played game on both sides,” Loyd said. “We’re glad to get that one.” Johnson had just the two walks in the second inning, and his eight called third strikes were on seven different batters. “Their pitcher did a great job,” Fayetteville head coach Scott Gallagher said. “He really mixed pitches well, and was able to throw to our lefthanders a really good changeup. He’d throw it 3-2 and threw it for strikes. We didn’t do a great job of battling and fouling off pitches to get another pitch.” Fayetteville’s best shot at scoring was in the second inning when Davenport led off with a walk. Jeff Sinacore hit a towering fly ball into the left field corner, which Seth Humphrey tracked down but couldn’t quite hold on to after a long run. Davenport rounded second, then retreated back towards first when Humphrey almost tracked the ball down but dropped it at the last second. Humphrey’s throw to second then barely beat Davenport back to the bag, which is a force by rule even though he had already touched second to begin with. “That was a crazy play down the line and they get an out right there,” Gallagher said. “If we get the safe call at second, then we’ve got first and second with nobody out.” Johnson walked the next batter but retired the final two of the inning on a fly ball and a strikeout. Saturday, Van Buren will also recognize its seniors prior to the doubleheader against Bentonville.

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VAN BUREN HURLER HANDCUFFS BULLDOGS

LELAND BARCLAY

Times Record | 5/2/2018

PHOTO CREDIT: Aaron Shaffer