Vanderpool Dominant In Win

Gravette Cruises To Victory Over Ozark Behind Junior's Pitching

Gravette's Ethan Vanderpool throws a pitch against Ozark in play on Monday, April 1, 2013, at Gravette's new baseball complex.
Gravette's Ethan Vanderpool throws a pitch against Ozark in play on Monday, April 1, 2013, at Gravette's new baseball complex.

GRAVETTE - Ethan Vanderpool grinned a little as his pitch nicked the outside corner for a called third strike.

The Gravette junior righthander was on his game Monday, and his five-hit, seven-strikeout performance was dominant in the Lions’ 5-1 win over Ozark in 4A-1 Conference action on Monday.

“Nothing seems to rattle him much,” Gravette baseball coach Dustin Dean said. He’s calm on the mound, and the boys are calm.”

PREP BASEBALL

Gravette 5, Ozark 1

Ozark 010 000 0 - 1 5 2 Gravette 003 002 x - 5 4 1

Williams, McClure (4) and Walls; Vanderpool and Parker. W - Vanderpool, 3-1 . L - Williams, 3-2. HRs - None.

Vanderpool (3-1) rarely got into trouble Monday, and when he did, he was able to pitch out of it. Over the final four innings, he allowed just one baserunner.

Gravette (6-5, 3-0 4A-1), which hosts Farmington on Thursday, put together enough offense, coupled with some Ozark (9-8, 1-2) mistakes, to take control of the game late. Jasper Russ was the catalyst for the Lions (6-5, 3-0) with a ringing two-run triple in the third inning that helped Gravette seize control. Russ’ triple drove in Wyatt Gibbons and Quinten Parker, who had singled.

But the night belonged to Vanderpool.

“He did a great job,” Ozark coach Matt Coleman said. “He threw strikes and he mixed up his pitches. And when he got in a bind he made the big pitch.”

The Lions won’t have much time to celebrate the win with unbeaten and top ranked Farmington coming in Thursday.

“We’re confident,” Dean said. “We’ve had a couple of close losses that we’ve been able to grow from.”

Sports, Pages 6 on 04/02/2013

Upcoming Events