MADISON TOWNSHIP — Ashland ace Luke Bryant was virtually untouchable.
A hard-throwing right-hander, Bryant gave up one hit in six innings in a 5-0 win at Madison in Ohio Cardinal Conference baseball action Wednesday.
The only hit Bryant surrendered was an infield single off the bat of Zach Glasgo in the fifth. He threw 98 pitches — 58 for strikes — before giving way to freshman Alex Grissinger, who hit the first batter he faced before retiring the next three to preserve the shutout.
“You always want to finish, but it is what it is. I was at 98 pitches,” said Bryant, who struck out seven and walked a pair. “I was relying on my defense to make plays. I can’t do any of this without them.”
Ashland (5-4, 5-0) gave Bryant all the support he would need in the top of the fourth.
Kamden Mowry reached on an error to lead off the inning and moved to second on Parker Grissinger’s single to center, the first hit of the day off Madison starter Seth Ohl. Clean-up hitter Ethan Bunce then laid down a sacrifice bunt and beat it out for an infield single, loading the bases with nobody out. Ethan Truax plated Mowry with a sacrifice fly to right, but Ohl limited the damage by inducing a popout and a groundout to end the inning.
“He pitched a good ball game,” Ashland coach Rick Gough said of Ohl. “We knew we were going to see him. We’d seen him last year in the tournaments and in the league and he pitched a whale of a game then as well.
“I knew this was going to be a tight ball game.”
The Rams (2-7, 1-5) had two on with one out in the fifth, but Bryant worked out of the jam with a strikeout and a flyout. Madison got its leadoff hitter on in the sixth but Bryant was again able to avoid trouble, striking out a pair of Rams looking in what proved to be his final inning of work.
“Luke did a heck of a job. He threw a great ball game,” Gough said. “We didn’t want to put him over 100 (pitches).”
The Arrows put it away with four runs in the top of the seventh. Parker Grissinger delivered a two-run single, while Bunce and Wyatt Mohrman each knocked in a run.
Ohl was the hard-luck loser, surrendering five runs on nine hits in 6.2 innings. Madison committed four errors behind him.
“We don’t have a strikeout pitcher so we’ve got to field it 21 times,” first-year Madison coach Nick Melton said. “That big inning has gotten us all year long.
“Seth’s pitch count got up there at the end of the game and we had to get him out, but he threw a heck of a game. I can’t ask for anything more out of that kid.”
Bunce led the Arrows with three hits, while Parker Grissinger and Aidan Chandler each had a pair of singles and Mowry scored two runs.
