Scoop27
05-30-2016, 11:39 AM
From the Brazosport Facts
BEEVILLE — It was a moment that literally turned the Sweeny Bulldogs’ luck when leadoff batter Cody Erikson smashed a second pitch over the left-field wall.
“I mean he threw me a first-pitch ball, so I knew I was going to get something good to hit,” Erikson said. “He gave me a pretty fat pitch, and it gave us a lot of momentum after that loss. I just felt like the momentum completely shifted from that point on.”
It was a 1-0 lead for the Bulldogs in the top of the first inning, but Sweeny went on to win 8-2 against Robstown in the third game of the best-of-three series in the Class 4A Region IV semifinal round at Coastal Bend College on Saturday night.
The win at Joe Hunter Field sens the 32-6 Bulldogs to the region final next week against Salado, which disposed of Sinton in two games (2-1, 5-4).
“It feels indescribable. We are two wins away from state, see if we can get there,” Erikson said.
Out-fanned by at least a 5-1 count, the blast also took the Cotton Picker faithful out of the game.
“That is what we told them from get-go, to play our game and to not feed into their crowd,” Sweeny coach David Luster said. “We told them not to look at them, don’t wave at them, don’t give them anything to antagonize more than we wanted to, and Shawn (Kelley) from the beginning pretty much kept them out of the game.”
It was the crowd that played a big part in Robstown’s 10-1 Game 2 win as it willed the Cotton Pickers on from the stands.
“We played 240-something innings this year and we picked the worst possible time to have a bad inning in that second game, and the wheels just completely fell off,” Luster said.
“No matter what we did we could not get it back on track, and for them to come out and set the tone with Erikson’s leadoff home run to start Game 3 just set the tone from the beginning, which was huge.”
Kelley was pitching on two days rest after going all seven frame in Wednesday’s 3-1 win.
“Oh God, Shawn to take the ball on two day’s rest, I put a limit of 70 pitches on him and once we got to 70, we argued, he didn’t want to come out,” Luster said. “So he kept going and got it to 80 and 90 — he wanted to finish the game, but I couldn’t do that to him, not with a comfortable lead like that.”
Kelley wound up with 116 pitches for the win as he limited Robstown to four hits, four walks, five strikeouts in six innings of work.
“I knew that if we were going to get to a Game 3, I was going to get the ball, I was just ready,” Kelley said. “Watching from the dugout, I was calling pitches in that Game 2 and just realizing they didn’t change their approach at the plate. They still could not hit the offspeed, so I just went in there with the same game plan.
“I wasn’t going to be as sharp, so I had to let my defense do the work and they played a hell of a game in the field,” he continued. “I just kept us in there long enough for us to score some runs.”
Sweeny came right back in the second frame to add two runs off Carlos Trevino, getting three hits with Wes Folse and Mikey Wetch getting RBI singles for a 3-0 lead.
After the Cotton Pickers finally got on the board in the bottom of the fifth with a run, Sweeny blew it open in the sixth.
Hayden Fails started the frame with a leadoff single as he came around again in the batting order with the Bulldogs plating five runs on two hits and two big errors on the defense, 8-1.
One of those miscues came off a grounder by designated hitter Elijah Smith as his grounder to the third baseman and subsequent throw home was over thrown scoring two runs. Then on a routine fly ball by Wetch to left field was dropped scoring another run making the score 6-1.
Robstown ace Jessie Ray Garcia was done after a 2-0 count to Erikson, as the University of Houston Cougar-bound senior belted a shot up the middle off Johnny Flores, making the score 8-1.
Erikson shut the door on the Cotton Pickers, sitting down the side in order and getting on the mound for the first time since late February.
“It felt good, I got hurt early in the season and it felt good to be back on the mound,” Erikson added.
Robstown stranded eight runner on base.
“There is no quit, we had people stepping up whether they were freshmen, sophomores it doesn’t matter how old they are they were stepping up when their numbers were called,” Kelley said. “We are just finding ways to win.”
The Cotton Pickers ended the year at 28-8.
BEEVILLE — It was a moment that literally turned the Sweeny Bulldogs’ luck when leadoff batter Cody Erikson smashed a second pitch over the left-field wall.
“I mean he threw me a first-pitch ball, so I knew I was going to get something good to hit,” Erikson said. “He gave me a pretty fat pitch, and it gave us a lot of momentum after that loss. I just felt like the momentum completely shifted from that point on.”
It was a 1-0 lead for the Bulldogs in the top of the first inning, but Sweeny went on to win 8-2 against Robstown in the third game of the best-of-three series in the Class 4A Region IV semifinal round at Coastal Bend College on Saturday night.
The win at Joe Hunter Field sens the 32-6 Bulldogs to the region final next week against Salado, which disposed of Sinton in two games (2-1, 5-4).
“It feels indescribable. We are two wins away from state, see if we can get there,” Erikson said.
Out-fanned by at least a 5-1 count, the blast also took the Cotton Picker faithful out of the game.
“That is what we told them from get-go, to play our game and to not feed into their crowd,” Sweeny coach David Luster said. “We told them not to look at them, don’t wave at them, don’t give them anything to antagonize more than we wanted to, and Shawn (Kelley) from the beginning pretty much kept them out of the game.”
It was the crowd that played a big part in Robstown’s 10-1 Game 2 win as it willed the Cotton Pickers on from the stands.
“We played 240-something innings this year and we picked the worst possible time to have a bad inning in that second game, and the wheels just completely fell off,” Luster said.
“No matter what we did we could not get it back on track, and for them to come out and set the tone with Erikson’s leadoff home run to start Game 3 just set the tone from the beginning, which was huge.”
Kelley was pitching on two days rest after going all seven frame in Wednesday’s 3-1 win.
“Oh God, Shawn to take the ball on two day’s rest, I put a limit of 70 pitches on him and once we got to 70, we argued, he didn’t want to come out,” Luster said. “So he kept going and got it to 80 and 90 — he wanted to finish the game, but I couldn’t do that to him, not with a comfortable lead like that.”
Kelley wound up with 116 pitches for the win as he limited Robstown to four hits, four walks, five strikeouts in six innings of work.
“I knew that if we were going to get to a Game 3, I was going to get the ball, I was just ready,” Kelley said. “Watching from the dugout, I was calling pitches in that Game 2 and just realizing they didn’t change their approach at the plate. They still could not hit the offspeed, so I just went in there with the same game plan.
“I wasn’t going to be as sharp, so I had to let my defense do the work and they played a hell of a game in the field,” he continued. “I just kept us in there long enough for us to score some runs.”
Sweeny came right back in the second frame to add two runs off Carlos Trevino, getting three hits with Wes Folse and Mikey Wetch getting RBI singles for a 3-0 lead.
After the Cotton Pickers finally got on the board in the bottom of the fifth with a run, Sweeny blew it open in the sixth.
Hayden Fails started the frame with a leadoff single as he came around again in the batting order with the Bulldogs plating five runs on two hits and two big errors on the defense, 8-1.
One of those miscues came off a grounder by designated hitter Elijah Smith as his grounder to the third baseman and subsequent throw home was over thrown scoring two runs. Then on a routine fly ball by Wetch to left field was dropped scoring another run making the score 6-1.
Robstown ace Jessie Ray Garcia was done after a 2-0 count to Erikson, as the University of Houston Cougar-bound senior belted a shot up the middle off Johnny Flores, making the score 8-1.
Erikson shut the door on the Cotton Pickers, sitting down the side in order and getting on the mound for the first time since late February.
“It felt good, I got hurt early in the season and it felt good to be back on the mound,” Erikson added.
Robstown stranded eight runner on base.
“There is no quit, we had people stepping up whether they were freshmen, sophomores it doesn’t matter how old they are they were stepping up when their numbers were called,” Kelley said. “We are just finding ways to win.”
The Cotton Pickers ended the year at 28-8.