Hurst leads heavy-hitting Van Buren Pointers

Jackson Hurst picked up this week where he left off in the spring — with ringing line drives all over the ball park. Alma, Greenwood, Van Buren ... Hurst didn’t seem to care. He drove in seven runs in an extended high school summer league game with Greenwood on Tuesday afternoon. But clobbering baseballs against kids who were just eighth graders isn’t what’s going to get the Pointers to Baum Stadium. For Hurst and the Pointers, it begins and ends with pitching. “I think one of our main focuses is pitching,” Hurst said. “Last year we had Trevor (Johnson), and then we lost Evan Jones (UAFS). I think if we can figure out pitching, we’ll be pretty good.” Hurst finished his sophomore season with a .333 batting average, driving in 24 runs and belting a team-high four home runs. Replacing Jones, Chase Moore, Bryson Patrick and Ethan Rauser won’t be easy. Related More Van Buren Pointers baseball But a good crop of in-coming seniors, including Johnson, Landrey Wilkerson, Noah Lipe, Laiken Stikeleather and Cade Wallace, is good starting point. Hurst has played a number of positions, but may end up as a corner outfielder. At least in 2019. “I’ve played a little bit of everything,” he said. “I used to catch and I’ve played first a lot. But I’m really starting to like the outfield now.” Hitting home runs, driving in runs and doing his part defensively, Hurst hopes to extend his career beyond high school. First up, though, a few weeks of summer ball and the 2019-20 seasons await. “Baseball is by far my most favorite sport; it’s the game that I love to play,” Hurst said. “I wake up every day and it’s just a grind; I’m trying to get to that next level.” Just a sophomore, Hurst discovered the agony of brutal losses last month when the Pointers couldn’t hold a 5-2 semifinals lead in the final inning against eventual state champion Har-Ber. The loss stung. “That was one that hit me in the gut,” Hurst said. “That was one game that I can’t really recover from. We knew that we could have won that game, and then we saw the score of the state championship game. “We knew that we definitely could have won that one.” In addition to playing some summer league games for the Pointers, Hurst will traverse the south this summer for his summer league team, the Northwest Arkansas Prospects. “We have some tournaments coming up, including one at TCU,” he said. “We have a couple of tournaments here and there.” The roster includes Van Buren teammates Ross Waters and Dakota Peters. There are some from Har-Ber, too.

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Van Buren High School Athletics

HURST LEADS HEAVY-HITTING VAN BUREN POINTERS

KEVIN TAYLOR

Times Record | 6/9/2018

PHOTO CREDIT: Jamie Mitchell