BROCK – The Early Longhorns were denied in their second straight outing against the Jacksboro Tigers Saturday, as their baseball season ended with a 7-2 loss here Saturday.
District 8-3A runner-up Early (16-9) also dropped a 6-5 decision to District 7-3A third seed Jacksboro (24-7-2) on Friday at Cisco College in Game 1 of a Region I-3A baseball bi-district playoff series.
In Saturday’s contest, Early fell behind 1-0 in the top of the second inning, pulled even 1 in the bottom half, then witnessed Jacksboro reclaim a 2-1 lead in the third. The Tigers opened a 4-1 edge in the fourth inning, where the Longhorns answered with the final run in the bottom of the frame. But Jacksboro added two insurance runs in the sixth inning and one in the seventh.
Early finished with eight hits – two each by Jeremy Brown, Cooper Jacobs, and Ethan Pallette, who drove in one; and one apiece from Jaxyn Price and Ki Houston, who added an RBI.
On the mound, Caydon Laird and Gavin Sanders combined to yield six earned runs on seven hits with nine strikeouts and six walks. The Early defense committed two errors.
Jacksboro advances to face District 5 champion Blanco – which knocked off District 6 fourth seed Coahoma, 13-7 and 14-13 – next weekend in the area round of the playoffs.