By Cody Pastorella
The Port Arthur News
May 10, 2008 09:18 pm
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HUMBLE — One run was not enough to beat Needville in Game 1 on Thursday, so Bridge City scored eight runs in Friday's win to even the series at 1-1.
The No. 5 state ranked Cardinals must have developed an obsession with scoring plenty of runs since they totaled nine more runs on Saturday to beat the Blue Jays and advance to third round of the Class 3A baseball playoffs.
The Cardinals even got their third complete game of the series from their starting pitcher. Matt Hicks suffered a 2-1 loss in Game 1 in an eight-inning effort. Then, behind a strong performance from Jason Clark, BC strummed the Jays 8-1 in Game 2.
That set the stage for senior Jaden Dillon. The right-hander shined as bright as the hot sun did Saturday afternoon at David Sitton Field.
Dillon struck out 15 Jays and went 2-for-2 at the plate with two singles, two walks and two runs scored in BC's 9-3 victory.
With the win, the Cards improve to 26-6 on the year and will face Jasper in the third round of the playoffs.
BC beat Needville in the same fashion last season, losing the first game while claiming back-to-back wins in the second and third games to advance.
Saturday's victory was not as easy as the score may suggest, however.
While Dillon struck out the side in each of the first two innings, the Jays still managed two hits off him in the first to score a pair of runs.
Then Needville added another run off Dillon in the third inning to take a 3-0 lead.
BC answered in bottom of the third when Joseph Roberts and Hicks each scored.
But the score stayed at 3-2 until Luke Rhodes dropped a three-run bomb over the left field fence in the fifth to give the Cards a 5-3 lead.
From that point on, BC cruised, scoring four more runs in the sixth to put the icing on the cake.
Rhodes started his day by going down on strikes with a runner in scoring position in the second inning.
Rhodes then left the bases loaded in the third by grounding out to third base.
But the sophomore left fielder totally redeemed himself with the homer. He even singled in two more runs in the sixth inning.
"That was a huge hit for us," said BC head coach Billy Bryant. "We took the lead with that hit and it really gave us all the momentum from that point on."
Bryant added as the season progresses, the bottom of the order seems to get more and more important.
How important?
Rhodes bats eighth and drove in five runs in the decisive game of this playoff series.
For the day, he was 2-for-4.
The Cards had 11 hits in all, including five in the sixth inning.
Kobie Hajdik took the loss for Needville. Hajdik was very sharp in the early innings, striking out eight batters through the first four innings. But the starter hit a brick wall after getting one out in the fifth.
The wall wore jersey No. 17 for BC. Before the gopher ball, however, Hajdik issued two walks to start the fifth. A sacrifice fly moved Dillon to third. Then with one out and runners at the corners, Needville took a timeout. Blue Jay head coach Mike Weatherly decided to keep Hajdik on the mound.
The very next pitch, Rhodes yanked a fastball out of the yard, bringing in Dillon, Snyder and himself.
Snyder's run proved to be the decisive run.
In all, six different Cardinals scored runs and eight different Cards produced hits. Blake Snyder drove in Hicks and Cory Moseley, who was running for Casey Jackson, in the sixth inning to make the score 7-3.
Jackson singled to get on that inning. He was 2-for-2 with a pair of singles on the day.
Snyder was 1-for-3 with a walk and the two RBI double in the sixth.
Blake Hubbard got the Cards started by driving in Roberts on a single for BC's first run. That RBI cut Needville's lead to 3-1.
Then with the bases and loaded and two outs, Clark drew a walk to bring in Hicks for the Cardinals second run.
All nine BC runs were earned. The Cards scored five off Hajdik and then picked up four more off Colton Schmidt.
Dillon issued just two walks to go with his 15 Ks in seven innings of work. He threw a little more than 100 pitches for the game, allowed just one earned run on five hits. All five hits came in the first four innings, as Dillon retired the Jays in order for the final three innings.
"He gave us a tremendous effort today," Bryant said. "He pitched about as good a game as we could have hoped for. He did a great job against a good hitting team on a hot day. He really gave us a chance to win and that's what you want out of your pitchers."
Of his 15 strikeouts, Dillon's most important ones were numbers nine and 10. That is when he got Rikky Salazar and Ryan Stack on back-to-back srikeouts in the fourth inning. At that point, BC was still down 3-2 and Needville was threatening with a runner on third base and nobody out before the two Ks.
With two outs and two on, Game 1's hero for Needville, Kody Neel, hit a fly ball to centerfield to end the inning.
Any contact from Stack or Schmidt and the Cards' 2008 season may have had a different ending.
Where and when Jasper and BC will meet for the next round has yet to be determined.
Bryant said those decisions would probably not be made until Monday.
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