pirate4state
06-08-2006, 10:18 AM
Leopards pounce on BC miscues, take semifinal 7-3
Southeast Texas News Group
ROUND ROCK -- Liberty-Eylau pitcher Will Middlebrooks pitched a complete-game, five-hitter but allowed no earned runs, and Leopard hitters took advantage of an uncharacteristic 11 walks issued by the Cardinal pitchers to claim a 7-3 win over Bridge City at Round Rock's Dell Diamond in the Class 3A State Semifinals Wednesday.
"There's no magic words to say after a loss like that," said Bryant. "When you're still in the game, you just have to play. Their pitcher just kept us off-balanced at the plate and got us to strike out too many times."
Middlebrooks (15-2) walked just one and struck out eight as the Leopards (25-14) move on to play the Abilene Wylie-Falfurrias in today's 3A title game.
BC senior Kevin Angelle (12-2) lasted five-plus innings, scattering four hits and five walks while striking out seven in his final appearance in a Cardinal uniform.
The Cards (33-6) fell behind 3-0 early after two-and-a-half, but Angelle dealt the blow to even the game at 3-3, a two-run double in the third. He went on to retire six of the next hitters he faced in the fourth and fifth innings to keep the Leopards off the scoreboard, but it finally caught up to him in the sixth.
The lefty, who was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 13th round on Tuesday, gave up a leadoff hit to Michael Bryan and walked the No. 9 hitter, freshman Blaze Powell to put a pair of runners on base with no outs and the game still knotted at 3-3.
That's when Bridge City coach Billy Bryant elected to go with sophomore Phillip Meeks out of the bullpen to come in and shut down the rally.
"I know what I'm going to do before I go out there to take a pitcher out," said Bryant. "I don't mind asking him how he feels, but if I feel like the pitcher is struggling, then you just have to make the move. Every decision that I make is based on what gives us the best chance to win. He wasn't effective anymore at that point."
However, Meeks walked the first hitter he faced, Michael Reed to fill the bases, but got Cory Wells to ground into a fielder's choice with the throw from A.J. Hecker coming home for the force. Meeks walked Middlebrooks to give L-E the lead for good. Reed scored on a passed ball but walked Zach Fowler, and junior Jeff Stringer entered the game to try to halt the Leopard rally.
"You just can't put people on base like we did with walks," said Bryant. "You can't allow good teams to get on base with walks."
Stringer induced a fly ball off the bat of Keith Allen, but Wells, who had taken third on the passed ball, scored easily on the sacrifice fly to give Liberty-Eylau a 6-3 lead.
The Leopards took a 2-0 lead in the first inning after Reed led off with a walk and Wells singled in front of Rory Scales in right to put a pair of runners on.
Middlebrooks reached on an error by second baseman Troy Bolton that scored Reed, and after Angelle got Fowler to pop up to catcher Casey Jackson and struck out Allen, Jarrod McFee plated the Leopards second run on an infield single in the whole that scored Wells.
L-E padded its lead in the third courtesy of another unearned run when Allen reached on a two-out error by Bolton, stole second and took third on a wild pitch.
After McFee walked, Josh Attaway singled through the left side to score Allen and give L-E a 3-0 edge. Bolton made up for his pair of miscues in the bottom of the third when he singled with runners at first and second and one out to put the Cards on the board, 3-1, after Scales, who reached on a Texas League single to right, scored.
Derrick Coleman, who reached on a fielder's choice, took third on an errant throw by L-E center fielder Reed towards the plate and touched home along with Bolton, who scored from first, on Angelle's double into the left field corner.
The game remained tied at 3-3 after Angelle retired the side in order in the fourth and Middlebrooks equaled his performance by getting three straight BC batters in their bottom half of the fourth.
The Leopards threatened in the fifth when Allen and McFee drew back-to-back, two-out walks but Angelle settled down to get Attaway to line out for the third out.
Down 6-3 in the bottom of the sixth, Jackson singled for BC with two outs, but the Cards couldn't take advantage of the baserunner when A.J. Hecker struck out looking.
Liberty-Eylau tacked on an insurance run in the top of the seventh. Stringer walked Attaway to lead off the frame, and after getting Bryan to ground out to second, gave up a run-scoring single by Powell.
Scales entered in relief, making his first mound appearance in several weeks, and later got Fowler to ground into a fielder's choice to send the Cards to their final at-bat.
"I was excited when Coach called me in to pitch," said Scales. "I was excited that we were in most of the game. It just didn't work out for us."
The task proved to be too big to undertake as the Cards went down in order in the bottom of the seventh when Stringer struck out, Scales popped up in left-field foul territory and Coleman went down swinging to end BC's season.
"We just didn't play well," said Bryant. "When you're at the state tournament, you have to play well to win and we didn't play well today."
"At this point, I thought we would have played cleaner baseball," said Bryant. "We've played 38 games prior to today. You've just got to keep playing. The sun will come up tomorrow, and you've got to go on and mow your yard. Life goes on."
link (http://www.panews.com/sports/local_story_159001342.html?keyword=topstory)
Southeast Texas News Group
ROUND ROCK -- Liberty-Eylau pitcher Will Middlebrooks pitched a complete-game, five-hitter but allowed no earned runs, and Leopard hitters took advantage of an uncharacteristic 11 walks issued by the Cardinal pitchers to claim a 7-3 win over Bridge City at Round Rock's Dell Diamond in the Class 3A State Semifinals Wednesday.
"There's no magic words to say after a loss like that," said Bryant. "When you're still in the game, you just have to play. Their pitcher just kept us off-balanced at the plate and got us to strike out too many times."
Middlebrooks (15-2) walked just one and struck out eight as the Leopards (25-14) move on to play the Abilene Wylie-Falfurrias in today's 3A title game.
BC senior Kevin Angelle (12-2) lasted five-plus innings, scattering four hits and five walks while striking out seven in his final appearance in a Cardinal uniform.
The Cards (33-6) fell behind 3-0 early after two-and-a-half, but Angelle dealt the blow to even the game at 3-3, a two-run double in the third. He went on to retire six of the next hitters he faced in the fourth and fifth innings to keep the Leopards off the scoreboard, but it finally caught up to him in the sixth.
The lefty, who was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 13th round on Tuesday, gave up a leadoff hit to Michael Bryan and walked the No. 9 hitter, freshman Blaze Powell to put a pair of runners on base with no outs and the game still knotted at 3-3.
That's when Bridge City coach Billy Bryant elected to go with sophomore Phillip Meeks out of the bullpen to come in and shut down the rally.
"I know what I'm going to do before I go out there to take a pitcher out," said Bryant. "I don't mind asking him how he feels, but if I feel like the pitcher is struggling, then you just have to make the move. Every decision that I make is based on what gives us the best chance to win. He wasn't effective anymore at that point."
However, Meeks walked the first hitter he faced, Michael Reed to fill the bases, but got Cory Wells to ground into a fielder's choice with the throw from A.J. Hecker coming home for the force. Meeks walked Middlebrooks to give L-E the lead for good. Reed scored on a passed ball but walked Zach Fowler, and junior Jeff Stringer entered the game to try to halt the Leopard rally.
"You just can't put people on base like we did with walks," said Bryant. "You can't allow good teams to get on base with walks."
Stringer induced a fly ball off the bat of Keith Allen, but Wells, who had taken third on the passed ball, scored easily on the sacrifice fly to give Liberty-Eylau a 6-3 lead.
The Leopards took a 2-0 lead in the first inning after Reed led off with a walk and Wells singled in front of Rory Scales in right to put a pair of runners on.
Middlebrooks reached on an error by second baseman Troy Bolton that scored Reed, and after Angelle got Fowler to pop up to catcher Casey Jackson and struck out Allen, Jarrod McFee plated the Leopards second run on an infield single in the whole that scored Wells.
L-E padded its lead in the third courtesy of another unearned run when Allen reached on a two-out error by Bolton, stole second and took third on a wild pitch.
After McFee walked, Josh Attaway singled through the left side to score Allen and give L-E a 3-0 edge. Bolton made up for his pair of miscues in the bottom of the third when he singled with runners at first and second and one out to put the Cards on the board, 3-1, after Scales, who reached on a Texas League single to right, scored.
Derrick Coleman, who reached on a fielder's choice, took third on an errant throw by L-E center fielder Reed towards the plate and touched home along with Bolton, who scored from first, on Angelle's double into the left field corner.
The game remained tied at 3-3 after Angelle retired the side in order in the fourth and Middlebrooks equaled his performance by getting three straight BC batters in their bottom half of the fourth.
The Leopards threatened in the fifth when Allen and McFee drew back-to-back, two-out walks but Angelle settled down to get Attaway to line out for the third out.
Down 6-3 in the bottom of the sixth, Jackson singled for BC with two outs, but the Cards couldn't take advantage of the baserunner when A.J. Hecker struck out looking.
Liberty-Eylau tacked on an insurance run in the top of the seventh. Stringer walked Attaway to lead off the frame, and after getting Bryan to ground out to second, gave up a run-scoring single by Powell.
Scales entered in relief, making his first mound appearance in several weeks, and later got Fowler to ground into a fielder's choice to send the Cards to their final at-bat.
"I was excited when Coach called me in to pitch," said Scales. "I was excited that we were in most of the game. It just didn't work out for us."
The task proved to be too big to undertake as the Cards went down in order in the bottom of the seventh when Stringer struck out, Scales popped up in left-field foul territory and Coleman went down swinging to end BC's season.
"We just didn't play well," said Bryant. "When you're at the state tournament, you have to play well to win and we didn't play well today."
"At this point, I thought we would have played cleaner baseball," said Bryant. "We've played 38 games prior to today. You've just got to keep playing. The sun will come up tomorrow, and you've got to go on and mow your yard. Life goes on."
link (http://www.panews.com/sports/local_story_159001342.html?keyword=topstory)