EARLY – The Early Longhorns extended their baseball season with a pair of home victories Saturday to capture their Region I-3A best-of-three bi-district series over the Breckenridge Buckaroos.
After District 8-3A runner-up Early (21-9) dropped Friday night’s series opener at District 7-3A third seed Breckenridge (16-10) by a 15-5 count, the Longhorns captured Game 2 on their home turf, 13-3. Then, in the decisive Game 3, Early erased a four-run deficit en route to a 7-5, 11-inning victory to earn the bi-district championship.
In the 11th inning of Game 3, Jaxyn Price, Jeremy Brown and Rylie Hill all drew walks off Breckenridge’s Evan Moore to load the sacks with no outs. Bradly Roman followed with a two-RBI single to center field to drive in the winning runs.
In the bottom of the 11th, Hill retired Breckenridge in order.
Early mustered just four hits in Game 3 – two by Roman and one each by Caleb McCullough and Tyson Tyler – but drew 10 walks and took advantage of five Breckenridge errors.
On the mound for the Longhorns, Hill, Roman, Caydon Laird and Kyle Ivy combined to give up just five hits with 11 strikeouts and six walks.
Trailing 5-1 in the top of the fifth inning, Laird reached base on a one-out walk and scored on a two-out passed ball.
The Longhorns then drew even at 5 with three runs in the sixth. Tyler’s RBI single knocked in Hill, who led off with a walk; Frankie Villarreal’s RBI sacrifice fly plated Tucker Hale – running for Roman, who was hit by a pitch; and Gavin Sanders’ fly ball was dropped in right field which allowed Ivy – running for McCullough, who walked – to score the tying run.
In Early’s 13-3 win earlier Saturday, the Longhorns scored in every inning but the third behind a 12-hit attack.
Roman led the way with a team-high three hits and three RBIs, while McCullough drove in a team-high four RBIs with just one hit. Villarreal chipped in three RBIs with a pair of hits, while Brown and Tyler also contributed two hits. Hill and Ki Houston added one hit apiece.
On the mound, Laird went all six innings for Early, yielding just two earned runs on six hits with three strikeouts and no walks.
Breckenridge grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but the Longhorns answered with two runs in their half and three more in the second and never looked back.
Next up for Early is District 6-3A fourth seed Ballinger (12-16-1), which defeated District 5-3A champion Reagan County (14-6) by a 2-1 count in a one-game playoff. A time, date and location for the matchup has not yet been finalized.