JV Baseball Win Tied Game with Blanco, 9-9
Nathan De Leon and Drew Tyra after game with Blanco
Canyon Lake JV Baseball won their tied game against Blanco on Thursday at the Hawk Nest, 9-9.
Earlier this season, Canyon Lake played Blanco and let’s just say that The ReSporter decided not to have an article on the massacre.
It was not a pretty game and in situations like that, it is better to leave the written word in the can.
Over a month later, another game was scheduled and The ReSporter wanted to see if there had been any improvement during this season.
“We are all young and it has taken a while before we have figured it out,” Head JV Coach Daniel Lancaster started. “We have a lot of raw physical talent and have been concentrating on our hitting and started talking about what to do when they come to bat.”
Hawk’s JV Baseball taking instruction after comeback against Blanco
The Hawks were doing a lot of first ball hitting in this contest as they seemed to have a purpose.
“I tell them that they’re 3 type of pitches,” Coach Lancaster taught. “One pitch is the pitchers pitch, one pitch is the Ump’s pitch, and that last pitch is the ball a batter would like….so when they go to the plate and that first throw is their pitch then I have no problem with them swinging and that is being more aggressive.”
Improvement was seen on this evening, so one reason a win can be deduced by a tied game, is having the Hawks down 5 runs after 4 innings and fighting to tie the score in the later innings and not giving up.
In that first inning, Blanco had 2 hits and 4 runs and all 4 of those Panther runs was scored in different fashion.
√ Blanco Run scored via a passed ball
√ Blanco Run scored via a wild pitch
√ Blanco Run scored via an error
√ Blanco Run scored via a hit.
You get the picture, the Rembrandt being drawn by the Hawks was in crayola form.
The Hawks did respond with 2 runs when Alex Conrad’s single followed by a Chase Fruge double scoring one run and giving hope this could be a decent game.
Fruge scored on a JT Greene sacrifice flyball but the Hawks could not take advantage and left 2 men on base to end that promising inning.
Blanco would not be finished and with another run in the next inning being scored on no hits had a Panther coming home on a wild pitch.
It was starting to get cold at the game as CL seemed to think it was Christmas and giving gifts to their opponent was a decent thing to do.
The Panther’s next inning had 2 more runs, but by the conventional way when a single scored those runs, giving Blanco a, 7-2 lead.
Canyon Lake had put 6 batters on base for innings 2-3-4 but just could not find a way to get any runs as the Panther lead would increase.
With 2 more Hawks on base in the bottom of the 5th inning and two outs it would seem like another lost opportunity to get any runs to make this into a game.
Sheldon Flint would walk to the plate and immediately found himself down with two strikes and no balls while looking at 2 outs.
Then everything changed as Flint hit a screamer up the middle scoring Greene and Tyra.
“I knew I needed to protect the plate and then he pitched the ball right down the middle,” ‘Babe’ Flint said. “I just swung at it and things are going good right now and our team is getting better and we are working on drills that help us.”
Flint had purpose on this trip to the plate as this was also his first at bat for this game.
Kyle Doerfler followed with a single and Brent Hemphill responded with a bloop single scoring another 2 out run with Flint crossing the plate.
Go Hawks!
Now the Hawks still had 2 outs with runners on 2nd and 3rd, when Conrad got his second hit of the contest driving in both runs and CL had scored 5 runs with 2 outs to tie the score.
Blanco woke up the next inning to take the lead back while leaving a Panther stranded on 3rd base.
Canyon Lake would have 4 hits a walk and a strikeout to end the bottom of that inning. The Hawks scored 2 runs on a triple off the bat of Tyra as the Blanco centerfielder could only watch as the ball sailed over his head.
On running to third on the hit, “I was good as my adrenaline was pumping,” Tyra said calmly. “We made routine plays and our pitching was good tonight.”
Tyra also commented on the comeback, “We started putting balls in play and got our confidence as the game continued.”
Confidence is a key word as you could see a different Hawk team near the end of the game compared to those middle innings.
Tyra would score when Flint had another sharp single to give Canyon Lake a 1 run lead for their first advantage of this game.
Crawfish Are Good For You! Go Hawks!!
The Hawks were doing well but that inning also had a learning moment as two of their outs came by being picked off first base. CL might still be batting if those giveaway outs had not been gift wrapped any nicer.
CL also had that confidence shown in base running as Nate De Leon made a double out of a walk when he continued to 2nd base helping to give the Hawks one more chance to score runs.
“Yeah, that could have helped us win the game,” De Leon commented. “Coach, yelled==Hawk, Hawk.”
De Leon was commenting on the designed play that had him scooting to second base.
“We try to do that to see what type of decision our opponent will have,” Coach Lancaster said with ease. “Sometimes you might be able to score a run when you have a player on 3rd and that was what we were trying to see would happen.”
Hawk Proud
Blanco would make those mistakes more painful when they scored another run in the 7th inning to end the game all tied at 9.
Fruge did double in the 7th but was left stranded that final score of, 9-9.
This was a good game for the Hawks as they showed much improvement since that first game with the Panthers, “I just wanted revenge,” De Leon said while looking for water. “We just wanted to show them we were not the team that got crushed before.”
The ReSporter found a little known rule in a ‘Homer’ book that states, “When a game ends in a tie, and if a team has more than doubled their opponent’s in hits, then that translates into a run.
So, by The ReSporter’s deduction, this game will go down as a win. Blanco played a good game, but sometimes when you play on the road, the Homer Bug can win games for you.
Go Hawks!!
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E Blanco Panthers 4 1 2 0 0 1 1 9 6 2 Canyon Lake Hawks 2 0 0 0 5 2 0 9 15 3 name ab r h bi 2b 3b bb so misc Alex Conrad 3 1 2 2 0 0 1 0 sb hbp Chase Fruge 4 1 3 1 2 0 0 0 Greyson Lee 4 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 JT Greene 3 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 sf Drew Tyra 2 2 2 1 0 1 0 0 hbp Levin Coleman 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Nate De Leon 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 sb roe Clay Weber 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 fc Zane Fullen 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Wesley Mazdy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 hbp Sheldon Flint 2 1 2 3 0 0 0 0 Kyle Doerfler 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 roe Brent Hemphill 4 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 totals 31 9 15 9 2 1 2 3 pitching ip h r er bb so misc Drew Tyra 2 2 5 2 7 3 Chase Fruge 3 2 2 2 0 3 hb 2 balk JT Greene 2 2 2 2 1 1 hb 2 totals 7 6 9 6 8 7 pitches balls/strikes total Drew Tyra 43/39 82 Chase Fruge 21/25 46 JT Greene 14/18 32 78/82 160
