Grapevine evens series with Granbury behind 2-hit shutout

Grapevine right-hander Connor Neuman tossed a three-hit shutout, striking out eight and walking just two as the Mustangs evened the Class 5A area series at a game apiece with a 3-0 win Friday over Granbury at Brewer High School.

Game 3 is noon Saturday at Brewer.

“We had energy early on and that usually equates to runs,” Grapevine coach Steve Hutcherson said. “We had some good at bats and just kind found a way to get some guys on and found a way to score some guys.”

Neuman threw 102 pitches (65 for strikes), including 15 first-pitch strikes to the 27 hitters he faced.

James Wyche drove in Joseph Leal with a single to right field in the bottom of the fifth inning for the Mustangs.

That led to two more runs. Dylan Gonzales scored when Neuman drew a walk, and Kyle Flamm drove in Paul McCullough with a fielder’s choice.

Leal is 2-for-6 in the series with an RBI and a run scored.

Landon Weatherly threw six innings for Granbury (25-7), giving up two earned runs and four hits.

Granbury’s Landon Gray was 2-for-2 on the night and 3-for-4 in the series with a run scored.

In other area-round series:

FW Paschal 6, El Paso Americas 4: The Panthers (24-6) put the Trail Blazers (28-7) in a hole early with a five-run first inning in Game 1 of a 6A series at Odessa Permian.

Paschal’s Brooks Williams scored when Ben Ayala drew on a bases-loaded walk, then Cruz Shope doubled to right field and drove in Marc Zamora and Sergio Conchas to make it 3-0.

Grey Woodward’s single to center field, scored Ayala and Shope.

Austin Smith (8-3) settled in to toss 5  1/3  innings, giving up four runs and nine hits while striking out four. Matthew Urban picked up the save.

Williams was 2-for-4 with a run scored, Zamora was 2-for-3, scoring twice, and Ayala was 2-for-3.

Jacob Cubillos was 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI for Americas (28-7).

Keller 7, Colleyville Heritage 0: Indians pitchers Mason Whitmarsh, Hunter Seay and Shane Langeliers combined for a six-hit shutout and two-game sweep of the Panthers in a 6A series.

Keller (24-8) meets Hebron in the regional quarterfinals.

Whitmarsh helped his own cause, going 3-for-4 with two runs scored and four RBI, including a three-run homer in the seventh.

Lake Dallas 1-3, Burleson Centennial 6-0: Centennial’s Thomas Santos gave up a run and three hits while striking out 11 to help the Spartans win 6-1 and force a deciding Game 3. The Spartans, however, lost the nightcap 3-0 and the series.

Santos was 2-for-3 at the plate in Game 2, scoring a run and getting an RBI while Jordan Jackson was 1-3 with 2 RBI.

Ben McConnell was 1-for-2 with an RBI for Lake Dallas (21-10), and Drew Karp scored two runs with a double to left field, the Falcons’ only hit of Game 3.

FW Arlington Heights 4, Saginaw Chisholm Trail 0: The Yellow Jackets (23-6) got two runs each in the first and sixth innings and Josh Soward pitched a five-hit shutout as the Rangers (20-15) were swept in the 5A series.

Soward had six strikeouts, and the Rangers had just one runner reach third base.

Peyton Cook singled to left field, scoring Soward and Harrison Beethe for Heights in the first. In the sixth, Soward drove in the Jackets’ third run after scoring on an error. P.K. Summers added the fourth run with a single to center field that scored Blair Henley.

Chisholm Trail’s Blake Gardner gave up just two earned runs and three hits while striking out six in the loss.

Heights will face the winner Lake Dallas in the regional quarterfinal next week.

Hebron 2, Southlake Carroll 1: The Hawks (28-6) swept the Dragons (21-7) in a 6A series behind Zach Deloach’s 10-strikeout performance in Grand Prairie.

Hebron will face Keller in the regional quarterfinals.

Derek Mueller’s single to left field scored Austin Stone for the game-winner in the bottom of the fourth.

Weatherford 6, Wolforth Frenship 4: Parker Bateman pitched 5  2/3 innings, giving up one earned run and eights hits while striking out five in Abilene in a 6A series opener.

Nick Rodriguez was 1-for-2 with two runs scored and an RBI for Weatherford.

This story was originally published May 13, 2016 at 11:03 PM with the headline "Grapevine evens series with Granbury behind 2-hit shutout."