STEPHENVILLE – The most successful season in May Tigers high school baseball history rolls on, thanks to a pair of victories over the District 7-A rival Gorman Panthers, 10-2 and 13-8, Saturday in Games 2 and 3 of a Region I-A semifinals series.
District 7-A champion May (18-5) bounced back from a 7-4 loss to league runner-up Gorman in Game 1 Thursday and will next face two-time reigning regional champion Nazareth (16-4) – which defeated Claude, 8-4 and 14-1, in the other regional semifinals series – for the Region I-A championship next weekend, with a berth in the state tournament at stake.
“This is a dream come true and a program-changing season right now,” said May head coach Chad Dail. “We have a lot of work to do, still a long way to go, but there’s been so much improvement this year compared to years past.”
Regarding the Tigers’ performance Saturday, Dail said, “I knew if we could get to Game 3 we’d be OK, so that first game today was super important. We did a fantastic job hitting the ball and our guys on the mound did a phenomenal job in the first game today. We had to reach pretty deep into our pitching staff for Game 3, but they got the job done and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Five-run innings proved crucial throughout the day for May, as a five-run third in Saturday’s first game with Gorman allowed the Tigers to open a 6-1 lead. In the second game, the Tigers put five runs on the board in the bottom of the fourth to open another 6-1 advantage, only for Gorman to counter with five runs of its own in the top of the fifth. Later tied at 8, the Tigers tacked on another five-spot in the bottom of the sixth, which turned out to be the difference.
“We’ve really got nine kids that are hitting the ball strong right now, but the bottom of the order has really been coming through lately,” Dail said. “I like to keep the lineup the same, I’ll make some little tweaks, but one through nine we’re hitting the ball really well and starting to hit our stride and peak at the right time.”
Hagan Hester, the eighth hitter in the order, finished with three hits and four RBIs in the series finale and No. 9 batter J.D. White added a pair of hits and also collected four RBIs. Kaden Watkins added three hits and an RBI and courtesy-runner Damian Salinas scored four runs. Cayson Dail added three walks and scored three runs, and Bryson Guerrero finished with a hit, a walk and an RBI. Luke McKenzie tacked on two hits and Braden Steele added another single as the Tigers chalked up 12 hits.
On the mound, Lane Goodson, Hester and Steele combined to strike out 12 batters and leave six stranded as the Tigers overcome three errors, five walks and seven Gorman hits.
“We’ve been trying to develop more and more pitchers for really the past 10 years now,” Dail said. “That’s the main thing we’ve been doing because we knew if we could get into this spot it could pay off, and it has.”
Tied at 8 in the bottom of the sixth inning of Game 3 of the series, Steele reached on a lead-off infield single and Dail followed by drawing a walk. Steele later scored the ninth and decisive running during Watkins’ at-bat on a wild pitch. Watkins then drove in Dail with an RBI single, Harrell followed with a walk and Hester delivered an RBI single to boost the advantage to 11-8. White capped the scoring with a two-RBI single to center field to plate Harrell and Hester with the final two runs.
Steele, who stepped onto the mound with one out in the top of the sixth and the game tied at 8, struck out three of the four batters he faced in the top of the seventh to seal the victory.
May grabbed a 6-1 lead in the fourth as Dail walked, Watkins singled, Harrell reached on an error and Hester and White came through with back-to-back two-RBI base hits. White later scored on a double play.
Gorman immediately answered with five runs on its own in the top of the fifth to draw even at 6, but May generated two more runs in the bottom half. Dail led off with another walk and later scored on a wild pitch to put the Tigers back in front, 7-6, and a bases-loaded walk to Guerrero scored Salinas – running for Watkins, who reach via error – for an 8-6 cushion.
The Panthers again clawed back as a two-run home run from Joseph Rainey evened the score at 8 with one out in the top of the sixth.
“You have to give it to Gorman, they battled back and battled back and never got their heads down,” Dail said. “I feel like we, in the first game Thursday night, got our heads down and got emotional. I told the kids they can’t play baseball with those emotions. Baseball is 100 percent a mental game and if you’re emotional when you play it you’re not going to do well, and they proved that. But today they came in here, the tension was high but they kept everything in check and did a good job.”
May trailed early, 1-0, in the top of the second inning, but responded in the bottom half with the tying run as Watkins singled with one out and the courtesy-runner Salinas scored on Hester’s RBI single.
In Saturday’s first game, May owned the early lead in the bottom of the first as Goodson reached on a fielder’s choice and scored on an RBI ground out by Steele.
After Gorman knotted the score at 1 in the top of the second, the Tigers imposed their will in the bottom of the third. Guerrero reached on an infield single to start the frame, then Goodson delivered the go-ahead RBI double down the left field line. Steele singled home Goodson with one out, Harrell later came through with a two-RBI single that brought home Steele and Dail, and Harrell eventually scored on a wild pitch.
Leading 6-1, May’s lead ballooned to 9-1 in the fifth as Watkins doubled and Harrell followed with his third RBI of the game on a single. Harrell later came home from third on the back end of a double steal after White was hit by pitch. White later crossed the plate on another wild pitch.
The Tigers’ 10th run of Saturday’s first game was the result of a McKenzie lead-off walk followed by a Watkins RBI sacrifice fly.
McKenzie notched the win on the mound, allowing one run over six innings with a pair of strikeouts.
