Bats power Crosby to sweep of Milby

Crosby’s Game 1 victory over Milby wasn’t decided until the final at-bat.

In the second game Friday, the Cougars took the suspense out early with a five-run first inning en route to a 9-4 victory over the Buffaloes and a sweep of their Class 5A arearound series at Butler Athletic Complex.

“Coming out with a win, especially after a crazy game like we had last night, this definitely felt good,” said left fielder Triston Scherer, whose three-run triple was the big blow in a first inning that included seven hits for Crosby. “This gets us to round three. We’re very excited about this, and we don’t plan on stopping at the third round.”

Set the tone early

There was no stopping the Cougars in the first inning. Their first four batters — Daniel Balderrama, Alec Lewis, Bryon McCoy and Jacob Bell — singled off Milby starter Noah Morales. After the triple by Scherer, who batted with the bases loaded three times, came singles by Matt Brooks and Jordan Kato.

“That’s big for us, if we’re coming in and stinging the ball,” Crosby coach Chris Wiggins said. “And if we set the tone early like we did right there, we’re tough to beat.”

Crosby, which won the first game of the best-ofthree series 4-3 at home Thursday, improves to 263. Milby, which went undefeated in District 24-5A, ends its season at 25-6.

Leadoff hitter Ivan Rodriguez had three of the Buffs’ six hits.

Cougars starter Blake Kuritz was solid in picking up the win, striking out four and walking two over six innings, before giving way to the hard-throwing Balderrama, who struck out the side in the last of the seventh to secure the victory.

Crosby, which stranded 11, had runners on base throughout the game.

Ten of the Cougars’ 11 hits came in the first two innings as they built an 8-1 lead after 1½ innings.

Milby’s three pitchers combined to hit four batters and walk four, and the Buffs committed two errors.

“Our biggest deal is we let our foot off the gas and let them sneak back in and put four runs on the board,” Wiggins said.

Even though Crosby was in control, Milby did get the Cougars’ attention with a two-run fourth inning that cut the deficit to 8-4.

Heriberto Trejo and Christopher Cortinas opened with singles. After Cortinas scored on Morales’ sacrifice fly to make it 8-4, Milby had two runners on base.

Kuritz gets the K

But Kuritz struck out Martin Marchan, who singled in the third, swinging to limit the damage.

McCoy, the Cougars’ No. 3 hitter, was on base four times.

“Everybody expects me to get on base, so I just get on base,” said McCoy, who singled twice, walked and was hit by a pitch.

But McCoy’s first-inning single was supposed to be a sacrifice.

“I wasn’t supposed to hit,” McCoy said. “I got the bunt sign, but I read it wrong. I swung, luckily got the hit, then we follow through with more hits.”