“Everything was working,” Simpson said. “[My] fastball was on [point], curveball was on [point], my changeup it was there, but other than that, everything was there tonight.”
Bryan starting pitcher Gavyn Simpson’s night ended with his teammates dumping a Powerade cooler full of water on him.
The junior probably needed it as he was on fire in Bryan’s 8-0 win over Hutto Tuesday night at Viking Field in District 12-6A play.
Simpson gave up just one hit, hit one batter and struck out nine in six innings on just 78 pitches.
“Everything was working,” Simpson said. “[My] fastball was on [point], curveball was on [point], my changeup it was there, but other than that, everything was there tonight.”
His lone hit didn’t come until the sixth as he gave up a double with two outs to Hutto’s leadoff hitter Randy Cardenas. Outside of a fielder’s choice in the fourth, Cardenas was the only Hippo that reached as he was also hit by a pitch in that same inning.
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The double was as far as he got though as the Vikings got a groundout to end the inning on the next at-bat. Simpson’s night was done after that as Trenton Seay pitched the seventh.
The senior picked up where Simpson left off as a lineout, pair of walks and then a game-ending double play ended the shutout.
Bryan (8-14, 2-7) beat Hutto 2-1 on the road last Friday for the team’s first district win and Tuesday saw the team’s first sweep.
“Man, all year we’ve been really close in these district games and kind of losing them late,” Bryan head coach Justin Garcia said. “These last couple of games this is what we know we’re capable of right here. Finishing games and being a full seven inning team. I know the guys are real pleased with this. They’re proud of themselves and our staff is proud of them. This is what we expect, this is what we all excepted.”
Simpson’s night was helped by plenty of run support. After three consecutive strikeouts to start the game, Simpson had run support the rest of the night.
Leadoff man Chance Crawford scored Bryan’s first run in a play that became a common theme on the night. Crawford singled and then Mason Garcia moved him over to second on a bunt single.
No. 3 hitter Rylan Hill didn’t have to swing the bat to help his team as Crawford stole third and the throw was errant. Crawford then dashed toward home to score.
Hutto (9-19, 2-7) had three errors on the night and Bryan scored four runs off them.
Those other two errors came in the fourth as Bryan batted around. Crawford’s hard hit ball toward first was corralled and thrown to first but the throw sailed past the bag. That brought home Trey Castro who led the inning off with a single.
The next plate appearance featured another throwing error as Mason Garcia reached on an error to first, which plated two runs. Bryan’s other runs in the inning came off a wild pitch and an RBI single by Joel Rios. The RBI single was his second of the game.
“I thought we did really, really well on the bases,” Garcia said of the fourth. “I thought we did well putting balls in play and kind of applying the pressure. We had some guys hit some balls hard. Chance Crawford hit a ball hard, Joel Rios hit a ball hard, so they did a really good job of putting balls in play with runners in scoring position.”
The Vikings will look to make it three in a row at 7 p.m. Friday as they host Harker Heights.
Bryan 8, Hutto 0
Bryan 101 501 X — 8 8 0
Hutto 000 000 0 — 0 1 3