Category: Baseball

by Evan Ren

GAME STORY: Hawley bats erupt again to close regional quarterfinal series with Stamford

ABILENE — For the second time in as many games, the Hawley Bearcats used an overwhelming offensive effort to defeat Stamford and sweep their Region I-2A quarterfinal series. 

Pounding out 13 hits at McMurry University on Saturday, the Bearcats eliminated Stamford with a 11-7 win in Game 2. Kason O’Shields was 3 for 5 with three RBIs and Will Scott was 3 for 4 with a double to lead Hawley (22-8) which had opened the series with a 14-4 win on Thursday.

With the win, the Bearcats advance to their fourth regional semifinal under 12th-year coach Jamie Seago. There, they will face Ropesville Ropes at a site and time to be determined.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Lubbock Cooper rallies to take pair from Abilene High, eliminate Eagles

MIDLAND — Abilene High’s bid for its first trip to the state tournament since winning the Class 4A championship in 1956-57 came to an end Saturday afternoon at Christensen Stadium.

After getting a brilliant start from Brady Bennett in Friday’s 1-0 nine-inning thriller to open their Region I-5A quarterfinal series, the Eagles saw Lubbock Cooper take an 11-0 Game 2 win before claiming the winner-take-all finale 8-0.

Abilene High had just one hit in Game 2 before being held to four hits in the series finale.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Wylie finishes off sweep of Monterey behind Walker’s gem

MIDLAND — The Wylie baseball team entered Saturday’s Region I-5A quarterfinal Game 2 against Lubbock Monterey having won seven of its last eight contests with timely hitting and masterful pitching.

A seventh-inning rally for a 4-2 win in Friday’s series opener meant that Wylie could give the ball to staff ace Sam Walker in Game 2 with a chance to close out the series and advance to the Region I-5A semifinals.

Walker cut through the Plainsmen lineup with ease as the Bulldogs beat Monterey 4-3 at Ernie Johnson Field on Saturday afternoon.

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by Daniel Youngblood

GAME STORY: Stephenville uses nine-run sixth to rally past Graham, clinch series sweep

For 5½ innings Friday at Abilene Christian University’s Crutcher Scott Field, it looked as though the Stephenville baseball team was headed toward its first loss since early April. 

Trailing District 6-4A rival Graham 5-1 in Game 2 of their Region I-4A quarterfinal series and struggling to get anything going against Steers ace Noah Jilek, the Yellow Jackets  and their 13-game winning streak were in serious peril.

But after recording just three hits through the first five innings against Jilek, coach Justin Swenson’s team exploded for 10 hits during a nine-run sixth to flip the script in what would eventually be a dramatic 10-7 win. The victory, the Jackets’ 14th in a row, clinched a series sweep and earned SHS a spot in next week’s region semifinals against the winner of Canyon and Midland Greenwood.

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by Zach Duncan, Special to Big Country Preps

GAME STORY: Strosnider’s two home runs fuel hit parade as Brock sweeps Holliday

IOWA PARK — Sawyer Strosnider admitted he didn’t get all of the ball during his first home run in Friday night’s Game 2 against Holliday. 

But the Brock junior left no such doubts in his next at-bat, smashing a two-run homer that broke a tie game in the fourth inning. 

Strosnider’s knocks were two of the 10 extra-base hits Brock collected in a windy 20-7 victory that advances the Eagles to the Region I-3A semifinals. 

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by Brandon McAuliffe

LOCAL BASEBALL ROUNDUP: Abilene High, Wylie score thrilling wins over district foes to open I-5A quarterfinal series

Photos by Khloe Scott, HubCityPreps.com 

MIDLAND — Abilene High right-hander Brady Bennett had his first no-decision of the season while turning in his best start of the year Friday as the Eagles outlasted Lubbock Cooper 1-0 in nine innings at Midland College to open their best-of-three Region I-5A quarterfinal series.

Hours later, across town in Midland, the Wylie baseball team completed a 4-2 win over Lubbock Monterey in Game 1 to take an early lead in its region quarterfinal series as well.

That put both the Eagles and Bulldogs in position to advance to next week’s Region I-5 semifinals with one win Saturday, when their respective series resume back at the same sites. 

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by Daniel Youngblood

GAME STORY: Heller, Stephenville dominant in 10-0 win over District 6-4A rival Graham

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. 

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by Daniel Youngblood

LOCAL BASEBALL ROUNDUP: Abilene High outlasts Ysleta, Wylie sweeps Del Valle

The Abilene High and Wylie baseball teams advanced again in the Region I-5A playoffs, winning their area round series against El Paso Ysleta and El Paso Del Valle, respectively. 

The Eagles defeated the Indians in three games, following a 6-1 win in Game 1 on Friday with a split Saturday. After dropping Game 2 by a 5-2 margin, AHS bounced back to clinch the series with a 6-1 victory in Game 3.

The Bulldogs took care of business a little quicker, downing the Conquistadores 7-5 in Game 1 on Thursday, before securing the sweep with a 6-1 win in Friday’s Game 2.

With the series victories, Abilene High and Wylie will both advance to the Region I-5A quarterfinals, where they’ll each face off with District 4-5A rivals. The Eagles will play Lubbock Cooper, which routed Clint Horizon in a one-game playoff, while the Bulldogs will take on Lubbock Monterey, which defeated El Paso Hanks in three games.

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by Daniel Youngblood

GAME STORY: Stamford blasts Ozona in Game 2 to clinch series sweep, earn matchup with rival Hawley

The Stamford baseball team wasted little time taking control against Ozona on Saturday, using a seven-run bottom of the first to set the tone for a 21-5 victory in Game 2 of its Region I-2A area round series at Abilene Christian High School.

Coming off a 7-0 win in Game 1 on Thursday, the Bulldogs scored at least three runs in each of their four trips to the plate, abusing Lions pitchers for 17 total hits — seven of which went for extra bases.

The thorough victory earned SHS a trip to the regional quarterfinals, where they’ll face off with District 8-2A rival Hawley next week.

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by Daniel Youngblood

GAME STORY: Gorman routs Ira in deciding Game 3 to advance to I-1A semifinals

This time last year, the Gorman baseball team was licking its wounds from a pair of thorough drubbings at the hands of Ira in the Region I-1A quarterfinals.

What a difference a year makes.

After splitting a pair of games with the Bulldogs on Thursday at McMurry University, winning Game 1 by a 3-2 margin before falling 13-1 in Game 2, the Panthers dominated the rubber match Saturday at Abilene Christian High School, scoring an 11-1 run-rule win to earn a regional semifinals date with May next week.

The series victory — considered an upset by many — avenged last year’s sweep, which had been on the minds of the Gorman players and coaches ever since.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Bearcats weather Christoval; showdown with Stamford waits

At 8:15 on Saturday morning, Hawley baseball coach Jamie Seago thought there was no way that his squad would be able to finish its Region I-2A series with Christoval at Cooper’s Cougar Field, which was saturated by overnight rainfall.

Then he struck out with Coahoma, Lamesa and Abilene Christian and circled back to Cougar Field.

By that point, the outfield had dried out enough to where getting a lunchtime start was a feasible option. All of this happened without his squad knowing how hard Seago was working behind the scenes.

Seago’s hard work paid off as the Bearcats beat Christoval 14-4 in six innings to sweep the Cougars and advance to a regional semifinal showdown with district rival Stamford. The two teams split their season series with Stamford winning 13-2 at Hawley before the Bearcats took a 10-5 win a few weeks later.

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by Daniel Youngblood

GAME STORY: Lefty Weaver almost perfect as Hamilton ends Colorado City’s season

The Colorado City baseball team had no answers for Hamilton ace Chase Weaver on Friday, getting no-hit by the standout lefty in a 10-0 loss to the Bulldogs in a one-game Region I-2A area playoff at Abilene Christian High School.

Weaver struck out 15 of the 19 batters he faced, finishing a first-inning walk shy of a perfect game. And his lineup gave him plenty of support, scoring four in the bottom of the first and adding to their lead in four of the next five frames to put the Wolves away in six innings.

The win earned Hamilton (24-11) a Region I-2A quarterfinal date with Albany next week, while Colorado City closed its season at 11-12-1.

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by Daniel Youngblood

GAME STORY: Jim Ned can’t cash in on enough opportunities in Game 1 loss to Holliday

A rocky fourth inning in the field and a number of missed opportunities at the plate were enough to do in Jim Ned in a 9-5 loss to Holliday on Thursday in Game 1 of a best-of-three Region I-3A area-round series at Abilene Christian High School.

Trailing 7-0 after the Eagles broke open a close game with a five-run fourth, the Indians rallied for four runs in the home half of that inning and another in the sixth to pull within two at 7-5. But that was as close as coach Mario Estrada’s team would get due in large part to leaving nine runners on base and having another thrown out at the plate.

With the loss, the Indians (25-6) will now have to take a pair from Holliday (30-4) when the series resumes at 5 p.m. Friday at Iowa Park.

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by Daniel Youngblood

GAME STORY: Hawley uses five-run sixth to rally past Christoval in Game 1

For the second week in a row, the Hawley Bearcats used big-inning baseball to take control of a tight game in a playoff series opener, pulling within a win of the Region I-2A quarterfinals with 6-3 triumph over Christoval in Game 1 of a best-of-three area-round series Thursday at Abilene Cooper’s Cougar Field.

HHS, which rode back-to-back five-run innings to a 11-1 series-opening win over Coleman last week, used a five-run sixth Thursday to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 6-2 lead that would never be threatened the rest of the way.

The victory improved coach Jamie Seago’s squad to 20-9 on the year and put the Bearcats in the driver’s seat heading into Game 2 at noon Saturday back at Cougar Field.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: May continues history-making season with sweep of Westbrook

SWEETWATER — This baseball season has been full of historic moments for the May Tigers.

It started with the first district championship in school history, and the Tigers added to that resume by sweeping Westbrook 12-1 and 15-5 in a Region I-1A quarterfinal Wednesday night at Sportsmans Park.

The best-of-three series win sends May to the regional semifinals for the first time in program history. There, the Tigers will be waiting for the winner of the Ira-Gorman series that begins on Friday at McMurry University.

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by Evan Ren

BIG COUNTRY PREPS PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Wylie’s Farrar, Moore pitch way to shared honor

Coming off a bi-district sweep of Plainview in which Reese Farrar and Rylee Moore both pitched five-inning one-hitters, it was going to be difficult for Wylie’s co-aces to repeat that performance against El Paso Parkland in the area round.

And yet, they did.

Farrar pitched her second one-hitter of the playoffs while Moore tossed a five-inning no-hitter to fuel the Lady Bulldogs past the Lady Matadors 20-1 and 10-0 and into the Region I-4A quarterfinals, where WHS (30-6) will face off with 36-1 El Paso Hanks this week.

In the process, coach Heather Collier’s dynamic pitching duo claimed our penultimate Big Country Preps Player of the Year award of the 2022-23 school year.

Continue reading “BIG COUNTRY PREPS PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Wylie’s Farrar, Moore pitch way to shared honor” →

by Evan Ren

GAME STORY: Hawley eliminates Coleman with late Game 3 win

The Hawley baseball team wasn’t going to make short work of Coleman. Both Mother Nature and the Coleman Bluecats saw to that on Saturday at Drigger’s Field at McMurry University. 

Leading their best-of-three 2A bi-district series by a game, Hawley fell 5-3 in rain-delayed Game 2, but recovered with a 10-7 win in Game 3, which ended just short of 1 a.m on Sunday morning.

“It was a great job by both teams, playing this late into the night,” Hawley coach Jamie Seago said. “Both teams fought, but for our guys to pull out a win here is very big for us.” 

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by Daniel Youngblood

LOCAL BASEBALL ROUNDUP: Abilene High, Wylie advance with strong Game 2 showings

The Abilene High and Wylie baseball teams closed out bi-district sweeps on Saturday, with the Eagles cruising past Amarillo High 13-4 in Game 2 at Lubbock Cooper while the Bulldogs routed Plainview 12-2 in Plainview.

The victories earned AHS and Wylie spots in the Region I-5A area round, where they will matchup with El Paso Ysleta and El Paso Del Valle, respectively.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Anson runs out of pitching, gas in series loss to Hamilton

After losing the opening game of their best-of-three Region I-2A bi-district baseball series with Hamilton in extra innings, Anson knew it needed a big day from Nick Miller on Saturday at Hudson Wade Memorial Field on the campus of Abilene Christian High School.

The senior answered with a special performance in Game 2 as he both started and closed out the Tigers’ 9-5 win that forced a winner-take-all Game 3.

In the deciding game, Hamilton scored all of its runs in the top of the first and took a 17-0 win to take the series and advance to the next round against Colorado City.

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by Daniel Youngblood

GAME STORY: Starter Dill, Stephenville bats respond to early adversity to run-rule Levelland in Game 2

The Stephenville baseball team continued its run of hot play Saturday, closing out its Region I-4A bi-district series against Levelland with its 10th consecutive win and fourth run-rule victory in its lats five games.

The Yellow Jackets trailed 2-0 after the first-half inning, but they responded immediately with seven runs in the home half of the first and cruised from there to a 13-2 win at Abilene Cooper’s Cougar Field.

The victory followed a 12-0 win over the Lobos in Friday’s Game 1, capping a series sweep and earning SHS an area-round date next week with Krum, which downed Sanger two games to one in its bi-district series.

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by Daniel Youngblood

GAME STORY: Hallmark shines, Wall bats explode late to down Brady 20-4 in series clincher

It took the Wall bats a couple of innings to get going Friday in Game 2 of its Region I-3A bi-district series against Brady, but once the Hawks finally got airborne, they soared.

Down 1-0 after two innings, WHS exploded for eight runs in the third and six in the fourth and fifth to pull away for a 20-4 win and a series sweep of the Bulldogs.

The lopsided affair, which followed a tight 5-4 win over the Bulldogs in Game 1, improved coach Jason Schniers team to 27-5-1 on the year and earned the Hawks an area-round matchup next week with the winner between Bowie and Peaster.

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by Daniel Youngblood

GAME STORY: Doran settles in, Jim Ned run-rules Ingram Moore to close out bi-district sweep

The Jim Ned baseball team rallied from an early 2-0 hole with 12 unanswered runs Friday to score a 12-2 victory over Ingram Moore and complete a sweep of its Region I-3A bi-district series at Abilene Cooper’s Cougar Field. 

The Indians got a six-inning three-hitter from Troy Doran and took advantage of six walks and six Warrior errors to close out Moore a day after claiming a 9-4 win in Game 1.

The victory improved Jim Ned to 25-5 and earned coach Mario Estrada’s squad an area-round date next week with District 7-3A champion Holliday, which defeated Breckenridge 8-1 and 7-6 in its bi-district series.

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by Daniel Youngblood

GAME STORY: Hawley uses back-to-back five-run innings to pull away from Coleman in Game 1

For 3½ innings, the Coleman and Hawley baseball teams were locked in a pitcher’s duel Friday at McMurry University’s Walt Driggers Field. 

But after going to the home half of the fourth tied 1-all, the Bearcats broke loose for five runs in that inning and five more in the next to pull away for an 11-1 run-rule victory in Game1 of a Region I-2A bi-district series.

Hawley collected 10 hits and took advantage of seven Coleman errors to provide far more offense than needed for starter Westyn Balch, who limited the Bluecats to two hits in a complete-game gem to outduel CHS starter Ryland Gentry.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME RECAP: Breckenridge’s hit, Bennett’s pitching lead Abilene High past Amarillo High

WOODROW — Jake Breckenridge’s first-pitch single in the bottom of the sixth inning scored Beckham Paul from second base and the Abilene High baseball team upset District 3-5A champion Amarillo High 6-5 in the opening game of their Region I-5A bi-district series Friday afternoon at Lubbock Cooper.

The hit was part of a key frame in which Trey Simpson drove in Saul Vazquez with a single to tie the game immediately before Breckenridge delivered, as the Eagles started the sixth with two walks sandwiched around a sacrifice bunt.

With the offense breaking through late, it made a winner out of Brady Bennett on the mound. Bennett threw a complete game, allowing five runs (four earned) on six hits. He walked four and struck out five.

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by Daniel Youngblood

GAME STORY: Big day at plate, Regala’s catch help Wylie open playoffs with run-rule win over Plainview

The Wylie baseball team passed its first playoff test with flying colors Tuesday at Bulldog Field, earning a 15-5 run-rule over Plainview in Game 1 of the best-of-three Region I-5A bi-district series. 

After waiting out an hour lightning delay, coach Grant Martin’s team took early control with a seven-run bottom of the first inning and survived some wildness on the mound to put the visitors away with a four-run sixth. 

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by Yale Youngblood, Special to Big Country Preps

FEATURE: With slow start in rearview, battle-tested Yellow Jackets ready for postseason run

As the Stephenville baseball team prepares for this week’s playoff opener (more on that intriguing scenario in a moment), the Yellow Jackets will be prepared for pretty much anything that could come their way.

That’s so, because … well … pretty much everything has come their way to date.

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by Evan Ren

BIG COUNTRY PREPS PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Stephenville’s Cameron takes this week’s award

It’s always a great accomplishment to go to the state track meet in multiple events. But when it’s done in dominating fashion at the Class 4A level or above, you’re generally talking about a very special, gifted athlete. 

Our Big Country Preps Player of the Week, Victoria Cameron of Stephenville, falls directly into that category and she has the regional hardware to prove it. 

Taking four gold medals at the Region I-4A meet, Cameron scored 30 individual points while clinching four berths to the state meet. 

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by Evan Ren

GAME STORY: Jim Ned avenges mercy rule loss to Wall with 2-1 victory over Hawks in regular season finale

TUSCOLA — What a difference a day makes. 

Having suffered an 11-1 mercy rule loss to the Wall Hawks on Thursday, the Jim Ned Indians returned on Friday to hand Wall a 2-1 defeat and force a first-place tie in District 6-3A in the process. 

Hagan Headrick delivered the game-winning RBI with an infield single to score Cooper Mascorro with two outs in the seventh inning to lift Jim Ned (23-4, 13-1) which will face Wall in a district tie-breaker for the No. 1 seed on Monday at a time and site to be determined. 

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