Travis advances past North Shore with 8-run second
In the bottom of the second inning, Travis’ first four batters singled and the fifth batter walked.
The inning and the remainder of the game didn’t turn out much better for North Shore, which ran into a juggernaut in a Region III-6A semifinal series.
The Tigers erupted for eight runs in the second inning, propelling them to a 15-3 Game 2 win over the Mustangs on Friday and a sweep of the best-of-three series at Reckling Park. Travis secures a spot in next week’s regional championship series.
“I did not expect this,” Travis coach Rodney Hernandez said. “I did not see this coming. We just attack. We hunted for fastball and got after it.”
The Tigers (31-6) have played outstanding ball all season, and it seems they’re improving. Four times Travis has scored 10 or more runs in a game this postseason. Three times the Tigers have run-ruled an opponent. Friday’s game lasted 4½ innings.
“We get timely hits,” Hernandez said. “You always tell them to extend the inning with two outs. And they’ve done a good job of that throughout the whole season.”
Added the Tigers’ Jaren Burks, who collected three hits, three RBIs and two runs: “This is big time. We did everything right this game.”
Travis defeated North Shore 7-2 on Thursday in Game 1 of the series. But it was Friday’s eight-run second inning that did in the Mustangs (21-12) and their ace Joshua Larzabal, who has signed with Rice.
Burks, who led off the second off Larzabal with a single, had two singles in the inning as the Tigers collected seven of their 12 hits.
“The second inning, that’s when we really took off,” Burks said. “Everybody just kept feeding off each other’s energy. We all kept getting hits and hits and hits, and it just added up. There’s a lot of talented people on this team.”
Starting pitcher Ryan Rickett, who has signed with Missouri, added two hits and three RBIs. Brandon Pruitt scored three times and Dominic Cox, who also has signed with Rice, added two runs for the Tigers, who scored a run in the first, eight in the second, four in the third and two in the fourth inning.
“North Shore is a great team,” Rickett said. “To come out here and hit their ace, we were ready to go. The team is playing great. We’re excited to move on to the next round.”
“We hit the ball pretty good, we can hit from top to bottom,” Hernandez said.
The righthanded Rickett pitched the first three innings, allowing three runs and two hits. He struck out three and walked three.
Sometimes it’s hard to pitch with a big lead, and that’s what happened to Rickett, who had difficulty finding the strike zone in the top of the third, walking three of the first four batters. That resulted in Kortlin Williams, Jacob Arellano and Dre Williams Nelson scoring for the Mustangs to make it 9-3.
Williams scored from third on an alert play. While Isaiah Henry was stealing second, Williams bolted toward home and beat the throw to the plate.