It was billed beforehand as a pitchers’ duel Friday night in Bridge City. Both teams’ pitchers delivered the goods as the West Orange-Stark Mustangs edged past the Bridge City Cardinals 3-2 at Cardinals Field. The victory keeps the Mustangs undefeated in district and was the 100th career win for Head Coach Shea Landry.
Jack Dallas was the winner for West Orange-Stark (3-0) pitching a complete game with 12 strikeouts. Bridge City (1-2) managed just one hit officially off Dallas and it was a scratch hit at that. Kevin Gordon bounced a grounder over Jack’s head in the fourth inning that died between the mound and second base. Mustangs’ second baseman BB Tezeno charged the ball, but in his haste bobbled and then dropped it. The official scorer ruled it a single.
The Cardinals’ starting pitcher Jacob Goodman settled down following the first inning before being relieved after the fourth inning. Goodman only gave up two hits and no walks while striking out three in his four innings of work. Both Mustang runs against him were unearned.
West Orange-Stark took a 2-0 lead in the first. Tezeno led off the game by reaching on an error. With one out Jack Dallas grounded a single to left. Ja’vonn Ross ran for Jack. Goodman struck out Ryan Ragsdale for the second out. Chad Dallas ripped the first pitch to him to the right field fence scoring Tezeno and Ross as Chad slid into third with a triple.
Bridge City got an unearned run in the bottom of the first. Jack Dallas started wild walking Logan Hamm and Justyn Romero both on just four pitches. Dallas then turned a double play on a comebacker hit by Schuyler Thibodaux which retired Hamm at third and Thibodaux at first. The Mustangs appeared to have snuffed out the rally, except shortstop KJ Miller threw low to first base on a routine grounder by Caleb DuBois which allowed Romero to score and DuBois to reach second. Gordon grounded out to first to end the inning with the Mustangs still on top 2-1.
Control problems by Dallas led to the tying run for the Cardinals in the fifth. Gavin Green was hit by a pitch to start the inning. He advanced to second and then to third on wild pitches. Jack struck out Hamm, but Romero hit a three-two pitch to right center field deep enough for Green to tag up and score easily on the sacrifice fly.
Controversy reigned in the top of the sixth when West Orange-Stark retook the lead. Ragsdale started things with a Texas League single to center. Chad Dallas laid down a bunt towards third that the new Cardinals’ pitcher Romero fielded, but threw wide of first base. Ragsdale raced around to third with the potential go ahead run. Dallas should have reached second base if not for a fortunate bounce off the fence for Bridge City that sent the ball straight back to DuBois the first baseman. He threw to second in time to nail Chad for the first out.
Tre Bernard up next bunted towards the first base side, and Romero fielded the ball again making a good throw to Thibodaux who tagged out Ragsdale trying to score from third. Kaleb Ramsey breathed new life into the rally with a single to right field.
That is when things got crazy. Teron Brown was sent up as a pitcher hitter. A pitch got away from Thibodaux and both Mustang runners moved up to third and second.
With a count of two balls and two strikes the next pitch was in the dirt, and Brown appeared to have at least started to swing at it. The ball went to the back stop and pinch runner Ronald Carter scampered home. The Cardinals’ Coach Chad Landry began yelling for Thibodaux to throw the ball to first base believing the pitch was strike three. He did so, but the umpire ruled the pitch was not a strike and Brown remained the batter and the run counted giving WO-S at 3-2 advantage. The confusion continued as the next two pitches were taken for balls by Brown before he was awarded first base on what amounted to a 5-ball walk. The next batter flew out to end the inning.
In both the sixth and seventh the Cardinals got a runner in scoring position. Gordon was hit by a pitch in the sixth and stole second base. Dallas struck out one batter before getting a fly out to left to end the inning.
Taran Burch started the seventh with a walk, was sacrificed to second as Dallas slipped fielding the bunt and had to throw out Green from a seated position. Jack then registered his twelfth K for the second out. After a wild pitch moved Burch to third Dallas induced a pop up for the final out that he called everyone away making the catch himself near first base giving a fist pump after the ball was safely in his glove.
West Orange-Stark remains tied for first place in district with Silsbee which also won Friday night against Hamshire-Fannett. Orangefield which is currently one game out of first plays the Mustangs at Ronnie Anderson Park on Tuesday night. Bridge City travels to Hamshire-Fannett to play the Longhorns who are winless in district.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-
WOS 2 0 0 0 0 1 0- 3
BC 1 0 0 0 1 0 0- 2
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