Tigers blank visiting Lions
Prior to a start, most pitchers have a routine that can begin up to 24 hours ahead of time. Cameron Radney had 10 minutes.
Radney got the call for Texas High 10 minutes before the Tigers hosted Greenville in a District 16-5A baseball game Friday. He was up the challenge as the junior righthander allowed just three hits—one over the final four innings—and retired 11 in a row to close the book on the Lions during a 12-0 rout at Tiger Field.
The Tigers backed Radney with some defensive gems and banged out 13 hits and scored five runs in two different innings. Radney needed just 53 pitches to work five innings, struck out two and walked none.
“Radney got the news 10 minutes prior to game time, he got down there and got warm; he was not our scheduled starter for tonight,” Texas High coach John McClure said. “He settled down after the first inning, did a heckuva job, kept a great pitch count and, with our guys, as a pitcher just threw strikes.
“He let the defense make play behind him. The defense is fun to watch; I would probably pay for a ticket to watch these guys play.”
Chris Lyles lined the first pitch he saw into center field to lead off the bottom of the
first for the Tigers (19-5, 7-3), and Jakob Hearne lined a single to right to put runners on the corners.
Lyles scored on a fielder’s choice, which was booted for an error, and Rian Cellers lined a 2-run single to left to make it 3-0. A wild pitch scored another, and Dakota Turner belted a 2-out double to right-center to make it 5-0.
Lyles beat out an infield hit in the second, was bunted to second And stole third. He scored on a ground out to second.
Christen Cole doubled to left-center to start the third for Texas High and scored on Turner’s single to left.
The Tigers put up another 5-spot in the fourth inning.
Lyles grounded his third hit to center, and Hearne lined a hit to left. Sutton’s grounder against a drawn-in infield wasn’t handled for an error, scoring Lyles and Hearne.
After a walk, another error plated the third run of the inning, and Adam Quinn’s single over the bag at third made it 11-0. Turner had his third RBI hit for the final tally against Greenville (16-8, 4-6).
“We run the bases hard, put pressure on the other team,” McClure said. “Cameron threw strikes; I’m very proud of the job he did. He did a great job of handling the situation. Our hitters picked up the slack, and we played great on defense.”
Kolton Crumpton roped a single to left-center to start the game for the Lions, but left fielder Quinn threw out the leadoff batter attempting to stretch his hit int a double. Landon Koger beat out an infield hit, but Tiger catcher Caden Dickson threw him out on a steal attempt. The only other hit was a 1-out liner to left by Garret Hager, who was stranded at first on a running catch by right fielder Connor Allred and a full-extension, diving catch in right-center by Lyles.