The Orangefield Bobcats completed a sweep of their playoff series with the Hardin-Jefferson Hawks Saturday afternoon at Port Neches-Groves. The Bobcats scored early and got a strong pitching performance from Mason Gonzales to win 5-1 in Game 2 and advance to the third round of the playoffs.
Gonzales pitched a complete game for Orangefield yielding just six hits, walking two, and striking out seven. The only run he allowed was unearned.
In the top of the first Orangefield struck for two runs. Ryon Stubblefield started the rally with a walk. Johnny Armstrong reached on a fielder’s choice grounder to second. Armstrong stole second base and scored the first run on a line drive single to center by Brett Fregia.
Keeping the inning alive Gonzales grounded a single to left field. Dylan Anthony made the score 2-0 with a single to center to drive in Fregia.
The Hawks got their only run in the bottom of the first. Gonzales had some early control difficulties as he walked the leadoff batter Braydon Pomirko on four pitches. Gonzales made a couple of pickoff throws to first before uncorking a wild one that rolled forever with the large foul territory at the Port Neches-Groves field. Pomirko easily went to third on the error. Mason Murray hit a grounder to Fregia at first which he handled unassisted for the out as Pomirko came home to make the score 2-1.
A walk to Grayson Kash put the tying run on for Hardin-Jefferson. A grounder to second resulted in a force out to end the inning with Orangefield still enjoying a one run advantage.
Andrew Hoyland led off the Bobcats’ second with a double to the left center field fence. Kaedon Evans sacrificed Hoyland to third. Stubblefield hit a chopper over the mound that resulted in a ground out to shortstop, but the height of the bounce gave Hoyland plenty of time to scamper home to give Orangefield a 3-1 lead.
In the top of the third Mack Patterson got a lot of height on the ball he hit. In fact it did not come down until it cleared the left field fence for a homerun. Patterson’s team leading third homer of the season put the Bobcats up 4-1.
Not satisfied with a three-run lead, Orangefield tacked another run on the board in the fifth. Hoyland got it started again with a one-out walk. Evans hit a soft liner that just fell in front of the diving Hawks’ second baseman, all hands were safe as the ball bounced away. Stubblefield was hit by a pitch to load the bases with Bobcats. Armstrong flew out to left field with Hoyland tagging up and scoring easily from third to make the score 5-1 in favor of Orangefield.
Hardin-Jefferson had base runners every inning except the sixth off of Gonzales, but no lead off batters reached after the first inning. In the fifth inning Gonzales turned in one of the better defensive plays of the game when he caught a line drive back to the box and turned it into an inning ending double play just nipping the runner that was trying to get back to second base.
The bottom of the seventh saw the Hawks mount their biggest threat since the first. With two outs Garrett Neale reached on an infield single and pinch hitter Logan Paschal singled to center to put runners at first and third. Pomirko popped up, and Orangefield second baseman Ryan Deutsch squeezed it for the final out to give the Bobcats a berth in the third round of the state playoffs.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-
OF 2 1 1 1 0 0 0- 5
HJ 1 0 0 0 0 0 0- 1
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