Junior left-hander Luke Heller was on his game, and the Stephenville lineup supported their ace with plenty of offense, scoring in every inning to top District 6-4A rival Graham 10-0 in Game 1 of a best-of-three Region I-4A quarterfinal series Thursday at Abilene Christian University’s Crutcher Scott Field.
Heller limited the Steers to just two hits in a five-inning shutout, and the Yellow Jackets bats took care of the rest, following one-run innings in each of the first three frames with bigger numbers in the final two to end the game early by run rule.
With a steady rain falling for most of the evening, Stephenville put constant pressure on Graham, closing an 11-hit offensive effort with a four-run top of the fifth that saw Kyler Bowman triple home a pair of runs before scoring himself on an error and Nate Barry blast a two-out homer to left for the game’s 10th run.