ABILENE – After spotting the Ballinger Bearcats the first three runs of Thursday’s Region I-3A baseball area playoff series opener, the Early Longhorns unleashed their offense – highlighted by a six-run second inning and a five-run third – en route to a 14-3, five-inning Game 1 victory at Abilene Christian University.
“We can’t celebrate tonight,” said Early head coach Todd Hatton, whose team faced a 1-0 deficit in the bi-district playoff series to Breckenridge. “Tomorrow we have to come over here focused and take care of business. Enjoy this, but we can’t celebrate tonight. If we win tomorrow we’ll celebrate all they want, but we have to take care of business tomorrow.”
Trailing 3-1 heading to the bottom of the second inning, District 8-3A runner-up Early (22-9) reeled off six runs to change the entire complexion of the contest against District 6-4A fourth seed Ballinger (13-17-1) – who defeated the Longhorns, 3-0, in tournament action back in February.
Frankie Villarreal led off Early’s second with a single up the middle, Caydon Laird drew one of nine walks issued by Ballinger pitchers, and Rode Walters laid down a bunt the Bearcats couldn’t field cleanly to fill the sacks with no outs. With one out, Jeremy Brown singled home Villarreal to cut Ballinger’s lead to 3-2. Then, with two down, Bradly Roman ripped a two-RBI single to center field to give Early its first lead, 4-3. Caleb McCullough immediately followed with a two-RBI double to right-center field to extend the advantage to 6-3. Before the frame ended, McCullough scored on a wild pitch to pad the cushion to 7-3.
“We did a good job putting the ball in play, finding holes, and putting pressure on them,” Hatton said of the offense. “That’s what we try and do, put pressure on the defense, and we were able to do that today. We got some guys on and were able to make some things happen, and we had some big hits when we needed them. Bradly Roman had a big two-out hit that opened up the game, that was huge and let us relax and play.”
The Longhorns tacked on five more runs in the third to extend the advantage to 12-3.
Villarreal, Laird, Walters and Jaxyn Price all walked to start the frame, forcing home the first run before an out was recorded. Brown and Rylie Hill then followed with RBI base hits to stretch the lead to 10-3. A pair of Ballinger wild pitches produced two additional runs in the inning.
Early’s final two runs crossed the plate in the fourth as Laird singled and Walters walked to begin the inning, as they scored on an RBI single by Brown and an RBI sacrifice fly by Roman.
The Longhorns’ run in the first inning was an inside-the-park home run by Hill, which was aided by a misread fly ball in left field by Ballinger’s Nicholas Martinez.
The Bearcats grabbed 3-0 lead in the of the first as Carter Arrott was hit by a pitch, Bradyn Bowman doubled to deep center field, Lane Busenlehner and Nakia Villarreal singled home runs and an RBI ground out by Aiden Busenlehner brought home Ballinger’s final run of the contest.
“They’ve matured a lot throughout the year,” Hatton said. “If we get off to a bad start they just keep playing. We’ve been battled tested and that’s just what you do. I was extremely proud of them. They didn’t get rattled, they stayed focused and stayed calm and got the job done. That was exciting to see.”
After yielding three runs in the first inning, Laird scattered just four hits the rest of the day with three strikeouts and no walks to notch the victory on the mound.
“He didn’t throw bad the first inning,” Hatton said of Laird. “Our left fielder lost the ball in the sun, we didn’t judge a ball well in center and that’s what led to that inning. But he settled in and he didn’t let that bother him. As a sophomore, being young, he just settled in and got after it. He was around the plate, the zone was a little tighter, but he just kept pitching and did a great job.”
Game 2 of the series is slated for 1 p.m. Friday back at Abilene Christian University with Game 3, if needed, scheduled for 5 p.m. Saturday at the same location.
The series winner will face either District 6 champion Jim Ned (27-0-1) or District 7 runner-up Bowie (21-13) in the third round.