Baseball: Max Bryant pitches with purpose for Hall

SPRING VALLEY – Max Bryant pitched with much purpose when he took the mound Monday at Foley Field for Hall’s annual Mom’s Day Game.

It was just 3½ years ago when the Hall senior, then 14, lost his mother, Ali, to breast cancer.

The Hall senior allowed only three hits, walking one with 10 strikeouts to pitch the Red Devils to a 9-0 Three Rivers East victory over Bureau Valley.

“I got the ball last year [on Mom’s Day] and Keegs [Hall coach Tom Keegan] kind of knew that. It’s always nice to be playing for someone. Really meant a lot to me,” Bryant said. “I always do [think of her], but today was for her.”

It’s always nice to be playing for someone. ... Today was for her.”

—  Hall senior Max Bryant

Bryant held the Storm hitless until Elijah Endress and Logan Philhower singled to start the top of the fourth inning. He retired the next three hitters to escape further trouble and allowed only one more hit through six innings before giving away to classmate Joel Koch, who pitched a scoreless seventh inning with one hit and a walk.

“When I went out, I didn’t feel like I had my best stuff, but you do what you have to do to get through it,” said Bryant, adding he didn’t know he had a a no-hitter going, rather focusing on the next batter.

“His fastball was working. Had some pretty good pop on it. Was able to mix in a curveball and drop those in for strikes, too,” Keegan said. “Makes things a little harder for hitters to square him up.”

BV coach Ryan Schisler said you just had to tip your hat to Bryant the way he pitched.

“He throws well. He did the same thing to us last year,” he said. “He’s a good pitcher and brought it today. I saw some of our guys make adjustments throughout the game, but he was just better than us.”

The Red Devils (17-9, 7-2 TRC East) gave Bryant all the offense he would need with two runs in the second inning.

Izzaq Zrust had a leadoff single, took second on a passed ball and scored on an RBI double to center by Joel Koch. Freshman Luke Bryant brought Koch home with an RBI single to left.

Hall broke the game open in the third inning, scoring five runs on seven hits to go up 7-0.

Jack Jablonski led off with a double to left field and scored on an RBI to center by Payton Dye. Braden Curran singled and scored along with Dye on Zrust’s two-run double to left field to make it 5-0.

Koch and Geno Ferrari added RBI hits to push Hall’s lead to 7-0.

Evan Stefaniak hit a pinch-hit home run in the sixth inning down the left field line, bouncing the ball off Devlin Street, to cap the Hall scoring at 9-0.

“Max did a good job on the mound, and we had enough timely hits to get some guys across,” Keegan said.

Luke Bryant went 3 for 4 with an RBI to lead the Red Devils out of the leadoff slot. Zrust and Koch added two hits with two RBIs each as Hall outhit BV 13-4.

Endress took the loss, allowing 11 hits and seven runs (six earned) with six strikeouts in six innings of work.

“Jah [Endress] was all over the plate. They just got to him. That’s really the first time Jah got blown up this year,” Schisler said. “He threw his game, and they were ready for it.”

Landon Smith and Endress had the only other hits the Storm (11-13, 4-4) were able to muster on the day.

The Red Devils will be hosting a Class 2A regional next week, and Max Bryant believes the Red Devils are putting things together at the right time.

“I think our pitching is really starting to come through. Our bats a little bit, too. I think all around we’re starting to shape up. So I have a good feeling,” he said.