ASHLAND — Rick Gough can’t help but marvel at Luke Bryant’s sudden transformation.
Ashland’s veteran coach is even more excited to see what the next two years hold in store for his hard-throwing sophomore right-hander.
Bryant has emerged as the Arrows’ undisputed staff ace this spring. He’s 3-1 with a microscopic 0.58 earned run average and 26 strikeouts in 24 innings of work.
What’s more, Bryant and the Arrows are atop the Ohio Cardinal Conference standings at 5-0. Ashland still has critical home-and-home series coming up against Wooster (May 3 and 4) and Mount Vernon (May 10 and 11).
Bryant cut his teeth at the varsity level last spring, but the composed pitcher toeing the rubber this spring doesn’t look anything like the deer-in-the-headlights freshman who was 1-2 for the Arrows last year.
“Last year he was a freshman playing a varsity sport. Being an elite pitcher was kind of tough for a freshman,” Gough said after Ashland’s 5-0 win at Madison earlier this week. “He’s had a year of experience and it shows. He’s had three good outings in a row. He’s 3-0 in the league. That’s all you can ask.”
Against Madison, Bryant surrendered one hit — it was originally ruled an error, but later changed by Ashland’s official scorekeeper — while striking out seven in six innings of work.
In three OCC starts spanning 20 innings, he has allowed 10 hits and two earned runs while striking out 18.
So what has been the catalyst for Bryant’s emergence this year?
“It’s just consistency. My pitches are starting to work and I’m hitting the zone more,” Bryant said. “I’m going at people and just working hard.
“It’s always been the same mentality. Go hard and work harder than everybody else.”
That approach — and a fastball clocked consistently in the mid-80s — has served Bryant well. Opponents are hitting just .133 against him and nearly half of the batters he’s faced this spring have seen three pitches or less per at bat.
“He threw a nice game. We struck out seven times tonight. You’re not going to win many baseball games when you strike out seven times,” Madison coach Nick Melton said. “There’s only so much you can do when you can’t put the ball in play.”
Bryant is the anchor of a young and talented Ashland pitching staff. Sophomore left-hander Owen Shade boasts a 2.33 ERA and 11 strikeouts in 12 innings of work out of the bullpen. Sophomore Logan Fulk is Ashland’s other conference starter while freshman Alex Grissinger has a 1.68 ERA and eight strikeouts in 8.1 innings.
“We’ve got some good young pitching,” Gough said. “Luke is going to be a good one.”
