Mustangs Win Two District Games in Double Header

With bad weather and TAKS messing with the baseball schedule, Coach Green was forced to do something a little unorthodox. The Mustangs played two district games on Saturday, April 24. The Mustangs left early Saturday morning, for a ten o'clock game against the Boys Ranch Rough Riders in Boys Ranch. Devin Cornell started things off with a hit by pitch to get on. Kaleb Wood then hit a single to move the runner. The Rough Riders made a double play to get two quick outs. Brady Baggett got a rally going on two with a single to left field that scored Cornell. Jeffrey Tyree then took a walk to have two on the bags. A Ransom Hollingsworth double then scored Baggett. Ty Owens followed with a RBI single. Owens worked his way around the bases to score on a passed ball by the catcher. Austin Miller then stepped up to the plate and crushed a ball over the center field trees for a solo home run. Tyler Peden got a single, which was followed by a Cornell single. During the next at bat, Peden got caught flat-footed and was tagged out on the bases to retire the side. Seth Skarke started on the mound for the Mustangs with Dustin Ford behind the plate. The Mustangs started off strong on defense. A single got a runner on the bags. A Baggett to Peden throw-out moved the runner around the bags, and got the first out. A Cornell to Peden sacrifice throw-out came next giving the Rough Riders their first run of the game. A pop-up to Peden ended the inning. The score at the end of the first was 6-1 Mustangs. The Mustangs continued to hit well in the top of the second. After a pop-up to the third baseman, the Mustangs got going. Ford reached the bases with a hit by pitch. Baggett then hit a double to score Nichols (courtesy runner for Ford). Tyree followed with a single to score Baggett. Hollingsworth hit to the third baseman and on a fielder's choice, Tyree was out at second. Ty Owens played some small ball and beat out the throw at first and scored a run. A dropped ball allowed Miller to reach the bags. Peden then hit a single to score Owens. A 5-3 putout ended the inning. Owens caught a fly-out to start the bottom of the second. A hit by pitch got a runner on. Tyree then caught another fly-out for the second out. Two more walks loaded the bases for the Rough Riders. Skarke fought back and got out of the inning with a strikeout. The score at the end of the two was 10-1 Mustangs. Wood got things going by reaching on an error. Ford took another one for the team to get two on the bags. A bloop caught by the second baseman got the first out for the Mustangs. Tyree then hit a dinker to the pitcher, but the first baseman missed it. Tyree tried to go to second and using himself a little bit as bait, two more runs scored. Hollingsworth took a walk that was followed by an Owens RBI double. Owens tried to get into scoring position and was thrown-out at third to take us to the bottom of the third. Three Rough Riders got on the bases with a walk and two hit by pitches. A sacrifice fly-out scored one. Another walk loaded the bases once more. Following a strikeout, the Rough Riders got a 2 RBI single. Baggett came up and made a play on the batter for out number three. The score at the end of three was 13-4 Mustangs. A throw-out got the first out of the inning. An error by the shortstop allowed Peden to get on. Cornell drew a walk, and then Wood hit a fielder's choice to reach while Cornell was thrown-out at second, and Peden scored. Another 5-3 throw-out retired the side. A double got the Rough Riders going in the bottom of the fourth. The next batter then hit a ball over the fence for a two shot homer. After a hit by pitch, Coach Green decided to have a pitching change. Hollingsworth took over on the mound. Skarke moved to first and Peden went to second. The next batter then reached on a hit by pitch. The next batter then hit into a double play courtesy of Cornell and Skarke. A hit back to Hollingsworth ended the inning. The score at the end of four was 14-6 Mustangs. The Mustangs marched on starting with a Baggett single. Tyree reached on a base on balls. Baggett was then thrown out at third. Hollingsworth then hit a fielder's choice to throw out Tyree at second. Owens came up and hit a single to keep things going. Miller then hit a double to score Owens and he reached third on an error. Hayden Hook pinched hit for his first game back since March 12. I for one thought it was emotional and admire this kids courage and fight in all he has had to deal with, much less at the age he is dealing with it at. I know his at bat didn't go the way he wanted it to, but he made contact and that's great for being unable to practice for weeks. The Mustangs needed three outs and to not allow any runs to end the already long game early. Two walks got runners on for the Rough Riders. A fielder's choice was hit next and Baggett made the right play by going home with the ball with Ford ready for the collision, for out number one at the plate. A runner was then thrown out on the bags at third for out number two. A single, however, got a run in for Boys Ranch. A walk and a hit by pitch got the bases loaded before a ground out to Baggett to end the inning. The score after five was 16-7 Mustangs. The Mustangs didn't get anything going in the sixth going down one, two, three with some great defensive plays from the Rough Riders. The Mustangs came back strong though, and after getting a runner on with a single the batter hit into a fielder's choice for Baggett to get the lead runner. A strikeout and another Baggett throw-out ended the inning. The score after six was 16-7 Mustangs. A 6-3 putout started the top of the seventh, which was followed by a 1-3 putout. Hollingsworth drew a walk and another Owens double scored Hollingsworth. Getting greedy on the bases again, Owens was thrown-out at third to end the at bat. Cornell took over the mound for the bottom of the seventh, and Peden moved to short. Two batters went down on strikeouts, before two more reached on a walk and hit by pitch. A single then loaded the bases for the Rough Riders. Cornell fought back and struck out the last batter to get the win for the Mustangs. The final was 17-7 in favor of the Mustangs. The Mustangs played lights out on all sides of the ball. Owens led all batting going 5 for 5. Hitting doubles for the Mustangs were Baggett, Hollingsworth, Owens (2), and Miller. Miller also got a homer. The Mustangs also played superb defense lead by Baggett who had seven putouts. Skarke, Hollingsworth, and Cornell all had strikeouts at 2, 1, and 3 respectively. The game was very long, lasting three hours, but they got the win and started the closure of a canyon.