A three-run first inning provided Wylie’s Brady Gay all the run support he would need Thursday in a 5-1 win over crosstown rival Cooper at Cougar Field.
Taking the mound with a healthy early lead, the senior right-hander delivered a gem and took advantage of some excellent defense behind him to help the Bulldogs lock up at least a share of the District 4-5A championship with the victory.
Gay allowed one run over 5.1 strong innings, allowing four hits and striking out six in the win, which improved WHS (17-4-1 overall) to 8-2 in league play with two games remaining. The Bulldogs hold a two-game edge in the loss column on both Abilene High (17-8-1, 6-4) and Wichita Falls Memorial (16-10, 8-4), putting them in position to clinch the outright district title with a single win in their final home-and-home series against last-place Wichita Falls Legacy.
“That (fast start) was big for us,” Wylie coach Grant Martin said of Thursday’s win. “Kind of here of late, we’ve scored but it’s been an answer to somebody else. So for us to put that up, I think, was huge.
“We knew this would be a fight, and it was a great game. It really was. We were able to score two there in the sixth and seventh for some insurance, but I tell you what (Cooper coach) Brandon (Stover) does a great job. That team is is well coached, senior-laden and I have just the ultimate amount of respect for their team.”
The Bulldogs jumped on Cooper starter Brady Henderson early, putting their first four batters on base and scoring their first run before the right-hander had recorded his first out.
Dylan Regala walked to lead off the game, followed by a Colby Garrett single and an RBI double by University of Arkansas signee Tye Briscoe. After Jace Tomlin walked to load the bases, Henderson struck out Hudson Tuley for the first out of the inning, but a hit batsman and an RBI fielder’s choice grounder by Cason Parish increased Wylie’s lead to 3-0 before Cooper finally escaped the inning.
The Cougars (17-8, 4-6) got one of those runs back in the bottom of the first when Henderson singled with two outs and scored on a double by Jace Crawford, but Gay settled in after that, combining with reliever Garrett to shut Cooper out the rest of the way.
“He was our guy last year and he’s coming into form at the right time,” Martin said of his starter. “He threw great the start before, and I thought he did a great job tonight. That’s what we always tell him, it doesn’t have to be perfect. It’s not going to be perfect. And I thought even if he got behind in a count, he bowed his neck, worked himself back into the count and got a groundout or a fly out.”
Still leading 3-1 after five innings, Wylie picked up a couple of late insurance runs, getting an RBI single from Blaze Ruffin in the sixth and a sacrifice fly from Tuley in the seventh.
In between, Cooper had a chance to climb back into the game, putting two men on with one out in the bottom of the sixth. But after Crawford singled and Alejandro Ibarra drew a walk to end Gay’s day on the mound, Braden Warren smoked the first pitch he saw from Garrett right to Tuley at first for a line-out double play.
“It just feels like that’s how it’s gone for us a little bit, where we do a lot of good stuff but we just can’t seem to get that hit,” Stover said. “That’s baseball. That’s part of it. We’ve got to find a way to scratch and get some runs. But we were a swing away from being ahead or in this game. It just didn’t go our way.
“We hit a lot of balls hard with guys on that just got caught. But they did a good job. They pitched the ball well. A tip of the cap to them. They outplayed us this week.”
Wylie, which outhit Cooper 6-5, was led at the plate by Briscoe, who went 2 for 3 with a walk, two doubles, a run and an RBI. The standout senior also had a nice over-the-shoulder catch in the seventh inning to help snuff out any thoughts of a Cooper rally after Garett Castillo had singled to lead off the frame.
Cooper got its only multi-hit game from Crawford, who went 2 for 3 with a double and the Cougars’ lone RBI.
With one week remaining in the regular season, Wylie has already locked up District 4-5A’s top seed in Division II heading into next week’s series with Legacy.
Martin feels like his team is peaking as the playoffs near.
“This is when you want to be playing your best baseball,” he said. “By no means are we perfect, but I really feel good about where we’re at. There’s a lot of confidence in this team, and a lot of our younger guys are growing up in front of us.
“The more games that they get under their belt only helps. And in turn, it helps our team. I think we’re doing a great job of understanding that, that it’s not an individual game, it’s a team game. I’m just really proud of these guys and what they’re doing right now.”
Cooper, meanwhile, can still lock up the top seed Division I with a sweep of rival Abilene High next week. Though the Cougars trail the Eagles by two games heading into next week’s series, a pair of victories would give them the tiebreaker by a virtue of a head-to-head win in the season series.
But with a spot in the postseason already locked up, Stover said it’s more about playing good baseball than it is about the standings.
“It doesn’t define our season,” he said. “That’s the beauty of having clinched a few weeks ago. None of this defines our season. Would we love to finish higher in the standings? Absolutely. But we’ll play whoever and we’ll go give it all we got and try to get a win no matter who we’re playing. We’re happy to be there and I think our kids are ready to go compete in the playoffs.”
DISTRICT 4-5A
WYLIE 5, COOPER 1
| 123 | 456 | 7 | — | R | H | E | |
| Wylie | 300 | 001 | 1 | — | 5 | 6 | 0 |
| Cooper | 100 | 000 | 0 | — | 1 | 5 | 0 |
Brady Gay, Colby Garrett (6) and Cason Parish, Gay (6). Brady Henderson and Austin Cummins. W — Gay. L — Henderson. S — Garrett. 2B — Wylie: Tye Briscoe 2; Cooper: Jace Crawford.
Records — Wylie 17-4-1, 8-2; Cooper 17-8, 4-6.