Van Buren stays hot in sweep of Bentonville West

The Van Buren Pointers continued their torrid pace on Tuesday. The Pointers won for the ninth time in their last 10 games and completed a conference home-and-away sweep of Bentonville West with a 4-1 win at Iverson Riggs Field at the Field of Dreams Complex. Van Buren (16-9, 6-6) also evened their 6A-West record after an 0-5 start. The Pointers won Monday, 4-3, at West. The Pointers host Russellville on Friday in a nonconference game before next week’s home-and-away series with Springdale, which stayed within two games of Van Buren with Tuesday’s 4-3 win over Bentonville. Tuesday, Landrey Wilkerson twirled his second gem in as many conference starts. Wilkerson went six innings, giving up just three hits and an unearned run. He walked three and struck out five. “He’s getting better and better every time out,” Van Buren head coach David Loyd said. “His command wasn’t as good as it has been, but his off speed stuff was really good. He does such a good job of keeping people off balanced.” After West (16-9, 8-4) scored the unearned run in the third inning to take a 1-0 lead, Wilkerson retired 11 of the last 12 batters. He only yielded a soft single in the fourth inning over the final 12 batters he faced. “He competes really hard,” Loyd said. “He’s not afraid to throw his change up in a fastball count.” Offensively, Noah Lipe set the tone for the Pointers. Lipe was moved from the leadoff spot to ninth in the order. Ironically, Lipe led off the third inning with a walk and scored the tying run. He led off the fifth inning with a single and scored the go-ahead run. “I just bought into what Coach Loyd says day in and day out,” Lipe said. “One through nine, to be able to be in the lineup in 7A you just take it and run with it.” Lipe led off the third inning with a four-pitch walk with Van Buren trailing 1-0. “He understands when he needs to take a pitch and if the pitcher’s struggling,” Loyd said. “Noah gets it. He understands the game. He’ll make the guy work if he’s struggling instead of going up there and swinging at the first strike he sees. He’s done a nice job for us all year.” Lipe moved to second in Tanner Callahan’s sacrifice bunt, took third on a ground-ball out and scored when Wilkerson lined a hard single to right. “That’s such a big deal to lead off with something,” Loyd said. “Then we can maybe get him over. In this league, a base hit and knocking a run in is big. Most of these games are decided by one or two runs. Anytime you can get a guy on, hit behind him and get him in is a big deal.” Tied in the home half of the fifth, Lipe singled hard to lead off the inning. “I just went back to my leadoff mindset and it worked out,” Lipe said. “It was a good day at the plate. I was in a little slump for a little while, struggling to get a hit. I just had to get out of the mentality and go game by game.” Lipe went to second when Callahan was plunked with a pitch. Wilkerson then reached on an infield error, which loaded the bases. Dakota Peters jumped on the first pitch he saw and drove it into the left-center gap, scoring Lipe and courtesy runner Simon Wheeler for a 3-1 lead. Wilkerson took third on Peters’ double and then scored on a passed ball. Lipe also had a sacrifice bunt in the sixth inning. “The best thing that he has going for him is that he is such a competitor,” Loyd said. “You don’t know what’s going to happen with him, but it’s usually good. He’s going to walk, or put it in play, something. I’m real proud of him for coming through with that big hit.” Connor Johnson earned the save in the seventh, pitching around a soft base hit, a seeing-eye ground-ball single and a walk. Lipe also had three put-outs in right field, including the final out on a deep flyball with the bases loaded. “Coach Loyd was straight-forward and told us if we’re going to make the tournament, we’re going to have to bulk up and we’re going to have to play our best at the end of the season,” Lipe said. “Everyone has bought in and we’re having some really big games.”

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Van Buren High School Athletics

VAN BUREN STAYS HOT IN SWEEP OF BENTONVILLE WEST

LELAND BARCLAY

Times Record | 4/24/2019

PHOTO CREDIT: Van Buren High School Athletics