Bridgeton baseball blanks LEAP Academy behind String's 12-strikeout gem

Anthony String gave Bridgeton something it had lacked for much of the spring: a clean, emphatic answer on the mound. The sophomore right-hander threw a four-hitter with 12 strikeouts and two walks in a five-inning complete game as the Bulldogs blanked LEAP Academy 10-0 in Bridgeton, a result that stood out not just for the score but for the way it arrived.

For a Bridgeton team that sat at 5-20 on the season stats page and later showed 6-20 on the schedule page as games were added, the shutout mattered because it offered a rare late-season line of control. Bridgeton also improved to 3-9 in the Cape-Atlantic United Division by May 21, and it backed up the win with another rout of LEAP Academy, 29-3, in the teams’ next meeting. That kind of back-to-back separation suggests a Bulldogs lineup and pitching staff finding a level against an opponent they know well.

String’s outing was especially notable because it added to a season that has already pushed him into a prominent place in Bridgeton baseball history. On his player page, String was listed at 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds, with 77 strikeouts in 45.1 innings during the 2025-2026 season and 130 career strikeouts. Those totals were marked as the program highs during Michael Valella’s 23-year tenure, turning each dominant start into more than a single-game bright spot.

The immediate question for Bridgeton is whether this is the kind of performance that can carry into the postseason stretch or whether LEAP simply matched up poorly. Bridgeton had already beaten LEAP in each of the five previous listed meetings going back to 2023, including wins of 18-3 and 17-7 in 2025, 18-8 and 26-16 in 2024, and 6-5 in 2023. LEAP entered the May 18 game at 9-11 under coach Jayson Love, but Bridgeton handled the matchup from the first inning and never let it become a contest.

The Bulldogs still have broader issues that a pair of blowouts cannot erase. A 6-20 record leaves little room for celebration, and Bridgeton has spent much of the spring trying to stabilize its play behind Valella, with assistants Al Etter and Arnold Green listed on the roster page. Still, String’s 12-strikeout shutout gave Bridgeton a concrete late-season high point, and if the Bulldogs are going to make any noise down the stretch, it will likely have to look a lot like this: firm pitching, early separation and no wasted innings.