NEDERLAND — Chase Kemp took care of the hitting and Braydon Credeur took care of the pitching Tuesday for the Nederland Bulldogs.
Credeur threw six innings of one-hit baseball in a 3-2 win over the Vidor Pirates to open the District 22-5A schedule Tuesday.
Credeur got three groundouts in the first and a fly ball, groundout and strikeout in the second. He added his second strikeout in the third before getting another fly out and grounder to shortstop Zack Friesz to end the inning.
The Pirates (0-1 in 22-5A) grounded out twice in the fourth and had another fly ball hit to Nederland first baseman Kemp for the third out.
Zach Hester in the top of the fifth led off with a single to right to break up the perfect game.
“I thought Braydon pitched extremely well,” Nederland coach Brian Spell said. “The first four innings he was cruising and we were playing some good defense behind him. That gave him a lot of confidence.”
Credeur said he felt good going into the game and was pleased with his effort. He threw only 64 pitches in the six innings, 41 going for strikes.
“We came out and had a great ball game,” Credeur said. “I was mad giving up the perfect game, but we got the win and that is all that matters. I just went out and tried to throw my best.”
The Bulldogs went ahead 1-0 in the bottom of the second after Jacob Jones reached on a fielder’s choice that allowed Kemp to score. Kemp had earlier led off the inning with a single.
Kemp doubled in the bottom of the third to give Nederland a 2-0 lead and the junior later scored when Austin Krautz reached on an error to give the Bulldogs (5-6, 1-0) a 3-0 cushion.
Kemp finished 2 for 3 at the plate while Kody Kolb was 2 for 3 with a run scored and a double.
The first Vidor score of the game came in the top of the sixth when a Nederland error allowed the Pirates to cross home plate and make it 3-1.
Vidor tacked on another run in the top of the seventh off Kemp. The Bulldogs gladly gave up the run since it was scored during a double play.
Kemp then struck out the next batter to end the game. Kemp was credited with the save after throwing 13 pitches and allowing one hit with one strikeout.
“1-0 is good but you have to take these district games one at a time,” Spell said. “This is a tough league.”
Hester threw all six innings for Vidor. He allowed one earned run on five hits with seven strikeouts and five walks. Hester threw 101 pitches.
Nederland is scheduled to face Ozen in Beaumont at 6 p.m. Friday.