PG HAWKS PLUCK DECATUR EAGLES TO ADVANCE TO CLASS 4A STATE TOURNEY,
Pleasant Grove overcomes Decatur, 1-0, to advance
TYLER, Texas—It came down to the eighth inning.
Heath Ferguson hit a Texas leaguer toward the third base side to score Cade Thompson, and Pleasant Grove defeated Decatur 1-0 in Game 2 to clinch the series in the Region II-4A regional final at Mike Carter Field Thursday.
The Hawks (35-3) will play in Austin next week in the Class 4A state tournament.
It is the eighth time in 10 years that Pleasant Grove has earned a berth at state.
“I was pretty excited and pumped when I got the hit,” Ferguson said. “I couldn't do it without my teammates. I had struggled throughout the game, and it felt good to come through for the team.”
Pleasant Grove's Tyler Jeans (13-0) threw 6 1/3 innings, struck out six, scattered three hits, walked four, and did not allow a run.
“To see Tyler get up there and compete with basically one pitch, his fastball, I can't say enough about him,” Hawk head coach Riley Fincher said. “This team is resilient. We kept plugging away and stayed the course.
“We did whatever it took to get a run, and I couldn't be happier for Heath.”
Thompson hit a hard single that bounced off the third baseman's mitt to lead off the eighth. Caleb Bolden laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Thompson to second for Pleasant Grove.
Thompson took third on a wild pitch and scored on Ferguson's game-winning RBI single.
“It's amazing to be going to the state tournament,” Fincher said. “Our goal all year has been to win the state championship. I told them, ‘we will see
how hard you are willing to work for this team'. And they worked really hard in the off season and during the season.”
Decatur starting pitcher Bryce Elder tossed seven innings, gave up one hit, struck out seven, walked three and hit a batter.
Relief pitcher sophomore Nick Voyles, who came in for relief in the seventh with one out, got the win.
The biggest out of the game came in the bottom of the eighth as Decatur had a runner on third with just one out.
The Eagles' Jaxon Terrell hit a roller to PG shortstop Caleb Bolden. Bolden fired home, and the runner was tagged out by catcher Keaton Russo.
Voyles induced a ground ball that went to Hawk first baseman Will Hlavinka. Hlavinka fielded the ball and tagged the base for the final out of the game. Each team got a man to second base with one out in the first inning, but each were unable to bring him home.
After striking out the first batter of the second, Jeans got into a bases loaded jam.
Dayne Chapman singled with a floater to right center, and the next two batters walked. Jeans struck out the next batter and induced a ground ball to get out of the threat.
Pleasant Grove got a big out in the fifth when the Eagles' Tyler Ticknor, who was hit by a pitch, was thrown out by Hawk catcher Russo as he tried to steal second.
PG's Jackson Cobb led off the sixth with a single to short and stole second on a beautiful slide. Cade Thompson walked to put two on with no outs in the sixth.
Two batters later, Carson Cox walked to load the bases for the Hawks with two outs, but Elder induced a ground ball to get out of the jam.
Pleasant Grove's Connor Ouellette was hit by a pitch, took second on a passed ball, and advanced on a fielder's choice with two outs in the seventh. But the Hawks failed to get him home. PG 000 000 01 — 1 4 1 Decatur 000 000 00 — 0 3 0 Bryce Elder, Wilson Hicks (8), Derek Potts (8) and Dayne Chapman. Tyler Jeans, Matthew Gilley (7), Nick Voyles (7) and Keaton Russo. WP-Voyles. LP-Hicks.