New Diana’s Swain outpitches Hooks’ defense for 9-6 win

LONGVIEW, Texas—New Diana head coach Bernie Martinez told his starting pitcher Tristan Swain that the Eagles needed him to compete on Friday evening in the third round of the postseason.

Swain, weathering a lessthan-stellar showing from the Eagle defense, did just that on the mound. At the plate, he more than helped his own cause.

Up 6-4 in Game 2 of a Region II-3A best-of-three quarterfinal baseball series at Pine Tree's Field of Dreams, Swain launched a three-run, fifth-inning bomb, propelling New Diana (25-5) to a 9-6 win over Hooks to complete the sweep and move the Eagles to the fourth round.

New Diana, which took a 10-2 win over Hooks in Game 1 on Wednesday night in Texarkana, advances to the regional semifinals where they'll meet Whitesboro, which completed a sweep of Edgewood in extra innings on Friday.

Details of that series will be announced later.

Hooks' season concludes at 18-11.

“I really believe that most pitchers need to learn how to have a ‘good' bad start, a ‘good' bad day,” Martinez said. “It wasn't Tristan's best day, but he competed.

“That's what I told him earlier, we need you to compete, you're our guy and he weathered the storm.”

The storm was six New Diana errors behind him, leading to five unearned runs for Hooks, which jumped to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Swain, who moves to 10-0 on the mound this season hit the pitch limit with one away in the seventh.

It was a game of big numbers both ways as the two teams combined for 23 hits, 24 runners left stranded, seven errors and 10 of the 15 total runs coming with two outs.

“I told them at the end of the game, baseball games are like snowflakes, not every one is the same, there's different ways you win, there's different ways you lose,” Martinez said. “The key for us to grown is how we learn from this.

“It was an ugly game, I wouldn't say it was a brawl, but we had to be offensive to win it.”

Swain, one of five Eagles to turn in multi-hit nights, finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Lane Meshell went 2-for-3 with two runs scored, Cole Willeford and Isaiah Martinez both had RBI with a pair of singles and Cody Stanley had two singles with a pair of walks.

Dakota De Baun had a twoRBI single, Jordan Stroud an RBI double and Landon Dorman a run-scoring hit to round out the New Diana offense.

For Hooks, Blake Starrett went 4-for-5 with three runs scored. Ty Wilsford, Dylan Pool and Connor Price all had two hits. Wilsford and Pool both added RBI for the Hornets.

Hooks struck first in the top of the first with a twoout knock up the middle from Wilsford.

Starting a trend that began in Game 1, New Diana had an answer each time. The Eagles sent 10 the plate in the bottom of the first, plating five runs, all with two outs, on five hits, highlighted by a 2-RBI single from nine-hole hitter De Baun.

After two scoreless frames, Hooks pulled to within a run in the fourth with three New Diana errors and RBI from Starrett and Scott Satterfield for a 5-4 New Diana lead.

New Diana got one back in the home frame on an RBI sacrifice fly from Landon Dorman.

In the fifth, the Hornets left the bases loaded after three singles.

With two outs in the sixth, Jacob Burton drew a walk, Meshell doubled to left and, on the first pitch he saw, Swain smacked a three-run shot to left, near the 370-foot marker to put New Diana ahead 9-4.

Four New Diana errors over the final two frames led to two more runs for Hooks, which left the bases loaded in each inning.