Coach’s gamble doesn’t pay off
Edgewood coach Jason Seale went with his best instincts Wednesday during a critical juncture in his team’s Class 3A state semifinal against Bishop. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, the move backfired.
With Edgewood trailing Bishop by a run in the top of the seventh and Bishop’s Rico Trevino at third after a one-out triple, Seale called for back-toback intentional walks to set up a force play at any base. He also pulled in his team’s infield, showing just how important he thought that possible insurance run might be to the game’s outcome.
Edgewood’s Jackson Tyner struck out the next Bishop batter, but he then hit the next two Badgers, pushing home the runs that Seale had desperately wanted to avoid.
Seale and the Bulldogs likely wouldn’t have faced their seventh-inning dilemma if Eastwood hadn’t stranded seven runners at second or third base during the game’s middle innings.
Connected: West Orange-Stark pitcher Aidan Anderson made sure to clarify Wednesday he and his catcher — his twin brother Grant — are not telepathic.
“Yeah, it’s not that,” Aidan said. “We just know each other and he knows what pitches to call.”
Aidan pitched a one-hitter and struck out 11 in an 8-0 shutout of El Campo at UFCU DischFalk Field. Grant did his part at the plate as well, driving in four runs.
Sidelined: West Orange-Stark center fielder Grant Lapoint-Teate had to be helped off the field in the fifth inning.
The senior appeared to injure his leg Wednesday when he slid into second base and broke up a potential double play.
Lapoint-Teate suffered a hairline fracture of his femur during the football season and was still recovering during this baseball season. INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
86: Total pitches thrown by Argyle’s Rixey Boyd in a complete-game win against Abilene Wylie.
3: Flatonia batters hit by pitches in the fifth inning of the Bulldogs’ 8-2 victory over Booker. Two of those hit batsmen scored.
10: Out of 11, the number of swinging strikeouts recorded by West Orange-Stark’s Aidan Anderson against El Campo.
522: Miles from Booker High School, located near the Texas-Oklahoma state line in the Texas Panhandle, to Dell Diamond in Round Rock, site of the Class 2A state tournament. No team traveled farther to play in the 2015 UIL baseball tournament.