Thursday, April 13, 2017. Gary Bobcats Field –
On Thursday, the Tenaha Tigers varsity baseball team travelled to Gary High Schools Bobcats Field for each team’s eleventh District 23 2A game. The Bobcats entered the game with a 7-3 conference mark and where 17-7 overall. Tenaha came in at 2-8 in league play and fresh off a win over winless Martinsville High School (0-10).
Tenaha got the upper hand early after the Bobcats had loaded the bases with one out. Tigers’ third baseman, Juarmez Brock was able to record outs on a grounder, and a line-out, to end the top of the first inning. Tenaha then went up 2-0, in the bottom of the first inning after T. Giles singled up the middle, Hunter Wagstaff reached base on a walk, and TK Gardner crushed a two runs-batted- in double into the outfield in left-centerfield.
Gary pulled to within 1-2 runs, in the top of the second inning, when Landon Odom scored after Travis Mason doubled deep into the outfield.
The Bobcats saw brothers Cody Foshee and Dylan Barbee reach base for the Tigers with no outs, in the bottom half of the inning, but GHS pulled out of the second frame by recording three straight outs on two strikeouts, and by picking off a THS baserunner at third base.
The top of the third frame saw Gary boost their lead to 4-2 by capitalizing on two singles, three walks and a sacrifice fly.
Coper Watkins added another score for Gary when he doubled to right-centerfield in the top of the fourth inning. He later scored on an infield hit by Colin Linebarger. This gave GHS a 5-2 advantage.
After walking Austin Williford to start the fifth inning, Bobcats pitcher Cason Daniels was able to strike out the next three THS batters and the fourth inning ended with GHS maintaining the 5-2 lead.
The Bobcats loaded the bases with two walks and a hit batsman in the top of the sixth inning. They scored twice with a 2 run-batted-in double by Travis Mason which extended their lead to 7-2.
Gary set Tenaha down in 1-2-3 order in both the bottom of the sixth and seventh frames. The Bobcat scored seven times in a catastrophic top of the seventh inning which saw them reach on seven free bases and score on two passed balls and a single base hit. This put the final complete-game score at 14-2.
Cason Daniels pitched entire game for Gary and struck out 12 THS batters. He gave up just two hits and walked four batters.
Tenaha saw Hunter Wagstaff strike out two Bobcats and he gave up five hits and walked seven. CJ Horn, as a relief pitcher, struck out one batter, gave up two hits and walked three batters. Hayden Jenkins gave up one hit and walked four batters. Dylan Barbee gave up no hits and walked four Bobcat batters.
The Tigers will travel to Shelbyville Dragons Field on Tuesday, April 18, 2017, for a 6:30 p.m. district game with the Dragons. The Dragons are 7-3 in the conference and poised to take one of the four playoff spots with just three district games left.
