Sweeny Baseball story from Wednesday night game
From the Brazosport Facts
WEIMAR — Caden Homniok and Ty Ringo combined to throw a one-hitter as the Sweeny Bulldogs took a 1-0 lead in their Class 4A regional semifinal best-of-three series with a 3-1 victory Wednesday at Veterans Memorial Park’s Strickland Field.
The Bulldogs (31-3) can wrap up the series at 5 p.m. Saturday at Strickland Field. If not and a third game is needed, it will follow 30 minutes later.
“I was very happy with them. I just told them that they were one step closer,” Sweeny coach Mark Durham said. “We tried to treat tonight like a one-game series, and with the two days in between, now we are playing two one-game series. And they did that tonight by winning the one-game series. But now they have to come back and do it again on Saturday.”
Homniok once again pitched a fabulous game. The junior went six frames, finishing with eight strikeouts and only a bloop single just over the outreached arm of shortstop Nathan Nance in the third inning.
Ringo also was in fine form as he kept the Gobbler bats at bay by striking out two of the final three batters.
Homniok finished with 85 pitches. At times he was just breezing by, but at other times, he fell behind in the count, only to make some remarkable pitches to keep Cuero (25-6) off balance.
“I go up there and just tell him to keep pounding the zone because his stuff is real good,” Sweeny junior catcher Wes Folse said. “Whenever he was throwing his fastball, they were late on it. If it wasn’t for a strike they were just taking it, but when he put it in there, they couldn’t catch up with it. The curveball also had them off balance.”
In the second frame, Homniok went to a 3-2 count on the final three batters and struck out the final two to strand a runner at first base.
With two runners on in the third, Homniok got a big fly ball to center field to again leave runners on base for the Gobblers.
Homniok sat down the Gobblers in order in the first, fourth, fifth and sixth innings.
“That is Caden. He might be cruising and before you know it he is behind in the count and it can be frustrating at times, but he just finds a way out of it,” Durham said.
The Sweeny bats struck quickly in the first inning. With two outs, Ringo walked and moved to second on a passed ball.
Right fielder Quinton Martin (3-for-3, three doubles, two RBIs) came to the plate and got a standup double over the center fielder for a 1-0 lead.
That lead stood until Folse gave the Bulldogs a 2-0 advantage when he knocked the ball over the left field wall.
The only one to react to the home run was the umpire, who waved him around the bases. Because of a blaring sun at its peak, it was difficult to see the ball go over.
“I hit it and I knew it was going to be a fastball but I thought it was going to be a double in the gap, but I looked up and the umpire was signaling that it was a home run,” Folse said. “Oh wow, I couldn’t even see it. At first, I thought the left fielder was going to catch it, but it went out.”
Cuero came within a run in the bottom half of the third when Payton Walk’s bloop single scored Austin Schwarz, who reached base after getting plunked by Homniok.
With Homniok still holding the Gobbler bats at bay, the Bulldogs got back-to-back doubles with one out in the fifth. The first one came from Folse to the right-field gap. Cody Kotrla took over for him on the base paths and once again Martin came up big at the plate with a double to the right-field gap scoring Kotrla to make it 3-1.
Martin not only had a big game at the plate, his defense also kept the Bulldogs in the game.
In the bottom of the second, Cuero’s Jared Barta hit a ball that looked like it was going to go foul, but somehow Martin kept up with it and caught it.
“Q, he is an animal. He is an animal, but Q is always helping us and that is why he is a big part of this team,” Folse said. “He is always making big plays out there.”
Jackson Kiddy will get the start in Game 2 for the Bulldogs.
Joel Luna is sports editor for The Facts. Contact him at 979-237-0160 or at joel.luna@thefacts.com
