CL Hawks Win 10th Straight in Game with Needville, 11-3
Peyton McMullen tagging up to score on a Sac Fly. (photo by Dennis Rohlmeier)
It had been a while since Canyon Lake (25-7) had faced a team with a winning record but that did not seem to faze this Hawk team as they ran their winning streak to 10 games in taking care of Needville, 11-3 in the first game of this best of three Battle of the Birds.
Way to Go Hawks!!
The Blue Jays opened the game up with a walk that had that Jay scoring on a double to start this game, 0-1.
Hawk’s pitcher Tyler Pauly was on the mound and spread out 8 hits in keeping this foe off balance as CL’s bats continued their assault into The Lake’s record books.
“We are hitting the ball real well and that is giving us a good feeling,” Pauly said when asked bout CL’s offensive numbers.
On what the thinking will be for the game on Friday? “They will be mad and will be coming after us…we will need to just settle down and come out and get hits.”
Those runs started flowing in the bottom of the 3rd inning after CL had faced the Blue Jays starter, lefty Kody Gibbs with nothing to show for it in those first two stanzas..
“That’s expected,” Head Coach Victor Escamilla said when commenting on how the Hawks have scored their runs recently in those middle innings. “These kids are winners and they do not slow down and will not play passive.”
Coach Escamilla continued, “All sports are a game of momentum and when Hunter (Anderson) made his catch (against the wall in left-field) that helped stop Needville’s momentum.”
That catch kept that first inning damage to just one run.
Let’s Go Hawks!!
In the 3rd inning the Hawk fireworks started with two outs and a Hunter Anderson single. That was followed by Matthew McLain’s walk and then red-hot Chase Anderson drove in his brother tying the score, 1-1.
That had McLain reaching base safely for his 14th straight game while Chase Anderson has now reached base safely in 20 of his last 21 contests. Both players have a season batting average above the .400 stratosphere.
Griffen Williams would be up next and on a full count deposited his ball over the left-field fence that stretched the lead to, 4-1 as these Hawks would finish this game scoring in each remaining inning.
It was Williams 6th home=run this year and it tied him with Logan Felch and Travis Walker for the most dingers hit by a Hawk. This was the 4th consecutive game for a Williams’ homer as he is already in the Top-10 for CL, with his 35th rbi in his first season at Hawk-Land.
Griffen Williams & Tyler Pauly were instrumental in win over Needville.
Needville had a threat to start their 4th inning with two hits and a hit batter loading the bases with one out. Pauly struck out the next Blue Jay and a fly-out to McLain in centerfield had the Blue Jays coming up empty.
Canyon Lake was not finished, scoring 4 more runs in the bottom of that same frame giving, The Lake, a comfortable, 8-1 advantage.
Jeremy Greene, Pauly, Hunter Anderson, and McLain had consecutive singles to start the bottom of that inning as CL sent 11 players to the plate. Williams had the longest single after pounding the outfield fence so hard that Needville was able to get the ball back to the infield that held the bomb to a single.
Scoring two more runs during the next inning without a hit had Greene reaching on an error and then two walks had Canyon Lake scoring on consecutive sacrifice flies, which was the 3rd for this game and now CL has scored in this manner for a record (where have you heard that phrase before) 19 times this season.
McMullen pitched the final frame and continued to throw smoke with some good defense after seeing Williams reaching back after overrunning the ball and snagging the ball for that second out.
“I lost it in the lights,” Williams said. “I just stuck my glove out and snagged it.”
Williams and The Catch!! (photo Dennis Rohlmeier)
On how he approaches his at bats, “I am just looking for something that will allow me to get a line drive and I keep my bat level with the ball. I am seeing the ball well and I just try to hit their (the pitchers) mistakes.”
There has been several mistakes these past few games and hopefully that will continue for Williams and these Hawks.
Canyon Lake will be back in action on Friday at 7:00pm in La Grange. Go to the Ticket Post for ordering your tickets for this game.
One more win and the Hawks will be facing the Navarro & Port Lavaca Calhoun winner. The Panthers won their first game over Calhoun, 11-0.
District 28-4A results: Boerne beat Sinton, 3-2 and Wimberley was eliminated after losing twice to Sweeny.
Keep it UP & Go Hawks!!
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E Needville 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 3 9 3 CL Hawks 0 0 4 4 2 1 x 11 10 1 ab r h bi hr bb so misc P Tyler Pauly 4 0 1 0 0 1 0 pr Peyton McMullen 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 lf Hunter Anderson 3 2 2 1 0 1 0 cf Matthew McLain 2 2 1 2 0 1 1 sf ss Chase Anderson 2 1 1 3 0 0 1 sf 2 1b Griffen Williams 4 1 2 4 1 0 1 pr Austin Bowers 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3b Tanner Schultz 2 1 1 0 0 3 0 roe pr Thomas Dorman 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2b James LaLonde 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 ph Gunnar Walker 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 dh Ty Sellers 4 0 1 1 0 0 0 fc rf Jeremy Greene 4 2 1 0 0 0 1 sb roe C Dalton Stanley - - - - - - - totals 26 11 10 11 1 9 4 pitching ip h r er bb so W L Tyler Pauly (10-0). 6.0 8 3 2 1 5 1 0 Peyton McMullen 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 totals 7.0 9 3 2 1 6 1 0
