With their backs against the wall the Bridge City Cardinals beat Lufkin Hudson 4-0 to force a Game 3 of the series that will be played Saturday at 4pm in Jasper.
The Cards appeared to be going through the motions when the game began while pitcher Braylen Collins was doing his best to keep the talented Hornets off the base paths.
BC had no one reach base through three innings. But in the fourth, the speedy John VanHuis reached on a bunt. Hudson’s longtime coach Glen Kimble argued the ball had touched VanHuis coming out of the box. The umps conferred, signaled safe, and Kimble talked his way into being tossed from the game. All of the commotion seem to spark the Cardinals dugout as the inning continued.
Justin Abate put the ball in play, reaching on an error with VanHuis now at third. Hutch Bearden came in to run for Abate. He stole second and then Collins singled, scoring VanHuis for a 1-0 lead.
Aidyn Mulhollan grounds out, scoring Bearden. And that was followed by a Chasse Goodwin single that scored both Collins and Mulhollan for a 4-0 lead.
That would be all the scoring BC would need but it wasn’t the end of the game. The jawing continued from both sides that got another Hudson coach and a BC player ejected. It lead to both teams not shaking hands at the end of the game, knowing they will have to look at each other again Saturday.
Meantime Collins was brilliant. He pitched a complete game giving up only four hits, striking out nine and walking two. There were also a few defensive gems from Mulhollan, Abate and Brice Swanton.
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Orangefield swept their series with Brazos with a whopping 17-0 five inning win. The Bobcats exploded for 13 runs in the third while three pitchers (Morgan Sampson, C Myers and K Menard) combined to throw a one hitter and strike out eight.
Offensively Jason Bodin was 3-3 with a triple and 5 RBI’s, Caleb Fregia was 2-3 with 3 RBI’s, and Rusten Traxler was 1-2 with 3 RBI’s. Kane Smith also scored three times while collecting hits on two of three attempts.
Through the first four playoff games Orangefield has outscored their opponents 53-6. The Bobcats (27-4) will play Central Heights in the third round. The 21-3A Champs swept their series with Danbury.
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Vidor came up short in their second game against Bullard 7-2 ending their fantastic season that saw them win District 19-4A. The Panthers used a big inning, six runs in the third, to put the game in their hands. In the bottom of the third, Vidor’s Landon Bailey would triple to score Westin Baker and Austin Cadroy to make it interesting. The Panthers would add one more in the seventh while the Pirates left six on base following the third inning.
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