ABILENE – In possession of a comfortable six-run advantage heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, the Early Longhorns eventually witnessed the Ballinger Bearcats bring the potential winning run to the plate before emerging with a 9-7 victory Friday afternoon in Game 2 of a Region I-3A baseball area playoff series at Abilene Christian University.
“I knew Ballinger with their back to the wall would come out fighting and I knew it wouldn’t be easy,” said Early head coach Todd Hatton. “Even when we built that 9-3 lead I didn’t feel comfortable. I knew they would fight and scratch and they did, and our kids matched them and we didn’t fold when it got a little tight there. I’m just extremely proud of them. It was great to get it done in two and not have to play tomorrow.”
Ballinger’s seventh inning featured a lead off single by Carter Arrott ahead of an RBI double from Bradyn Bowman off Early reliever Bradly Roman, who worked five innings of relief and allowed four runs on six hits with three strikeouts and no walks to notch the win. Caydon Laird, Thursday’s winning pitcher for the Longhorns, came on and recorded the first out of the frame before an RBI triple by Nakia Villarreal, an RBI infield single by Aiden Busenlehner, a base hit from Trey Matschek and an RBI single from Tyler Vaughn. But Laird then retired Martin Quiroga on a blooper to Jeremy Brown at shortstop and struck out Tyler Vaughn to end the game and secure the save with runners stranded at first and second base.
As was the case in Thursday’s 14-3 win for the Longhorns, District 8-3A runner-up Early (23-9) trailed District 6-4A fourth seed Ballinger (13-18-1) by two runs after the first inning, but responded with seven unanswered runs, including three in the top of the second inning to grab the lead for good.
“We got behind both games 3-0 and 2-0,” Hatton said. “The very next inning after we got down we came back in both games and scratched across some runs. We didn’t panic. Like we talked about yesterday, they don’t get nervous, it kind of motivates them I guess. I wish they wouldn’t do that because it makes me nervous.”
The Longhorns’ top of the second inning featured back-to-back singles from Tyson Tyler and Frankie Villarreal ahead of an RBI sacrifice fly by Laird. Rode Walters then reached on an error ahead of an RBI ground out by Ki Houston that drove in Villarreal with the tying run. Brown then delivered an RBI single to left field that plated Walters, and the Longhorns never trailed again.
Early increased the lead to 4-2 in the fourth as Houston reached on a one-out bunt single and scored when Hill reached on a two-out throwing error.
The Longhorns then scored three two-out runs in the fifth inning to boost the advantage to 7-2. Caleb McCullough walked and Tyler beat out a bunt single to start the frame, while Gavin Sanders was plunked by a pitch with two outs to fill the sacks. Houston then legged out an RBI infield single, Brown followed with another RBI single to left field, and Sanders later scored on a wild pitch during Hill’s at-bat.
Ballinger closed the gap to 7-3 in the sixth as Villarreal, who began the frame with a double, scored on Cooper Switzer’s two-out RBI infield single.
Early answered with two runs in the top of the seventh as Houston and Brown both walked and scored on an RBI sac fly by Roman and a two-out double to the left field wall by McCullough.
The Longhorns were able to escape a few jams thanks to three double plays.
In the first inning, down two runs with the bases loaded and one out, Hill induced a grounder by Vaughn to Brown at shortstop who flipped over to John-Stewart Gordon for the second out, and Gordon fired on to first to complete the double play.
With Ballinger’s first two batters on due to walks in the second inning, Roman got Bowman to line out to Gordon at second, who then stepped on the bag to complete an inning-ending double play.
In the fifth inning, after Arrott led off with double, Bowman lined out to Tyler in center field and Arrott was doubled up while drifting off the bag at second base.
“That saved us, pitching and defense is what wins,” Hatton said of the multiple double plays. “Rylie through district was lights out, but Bradly came in and picked him up and pitched five solid innings on the mound and threw strikes. His velocity was pretty good, he mixed it up, he was hitting his spots and we made plays behind him and that gave us a chance to win.”
Early will face either District 6 champion Jim Ned (27-0-1) or District 7 runner-up Bowie (21-13) in the third round next weekend.
