MONT BELVIEU — Nederland found a glimmer of hope after Reese Miller tossed his 15th strikeout of the game.

The third strike was dropped, and the catcher overthrew the first baseman, allowing Alex Ortiz to reach second base with two outs.

Miller, a senior, then struck out Colton Hartt, that 16th K — and fourth of the final inning — capping Dayton’s 1-0 win Wednesday in Game 1 of a best-of-three 5A bi-district series at Barbers Hill High School.

Miller didn’t envision fanning more than half of his total batters.
“We knew [Nederland] could swing it, but we knew with good pitching, we’d be able to take them down,” he said.

The two teams will meet again here at 5 p.m. Friday. If District 22-5A champion Nederland (21-7-1) wins, Game 3 will be played 30 minutes after Game 2’s conclusion.

Nederland last won a bi-district round in 2013, when it defeated Dayton.

Wednesday, however, was Miller’s night. He held Nederland to three hits and walked one in a complete game.

“We knew he was special coming in,” Bulldogs coach Bryan Spell said. “He beat the District 21-5A champion last week, 1-0.”

That would be Barbers Hill that Miller shut down last week in Dayton to secure the fourth seed from 21-5A.

“A lot of confidence was built off that,” he said.

Said Spell: “We knew what we were up against, and he was as good as advertised. The kids battled. We just couldn’t figure out his breaking ball. It kept us off-balance. We had some opportunities, but we couldn’t come up with that big hit.”

Bulldogs senior Braydon Credeur struck out nine in six innings. Jacob Mares came on to pitch a perfect seventh inning, striking out his last two batters.

“[Miller] was tough, but our guy was pretty tough, too,” Spell said. “… I can’t say enough about Braydon Credeur. He gave us a chance to win like he has for the last four years. Really proud of him, really proud of our team.”

A four-hit top of the fourth made the difference for the Broncos (20-10-1). Miller led off a string of three straight singles and scored on a one-out single by Will McCracken that took a high bounce between home plate and third base.

McCracken was Dayton’s only multiple hitter, going 2 for 3. Ethan Maddox and Matt Drabbant also singled in the fourth to load the bases.

Five of Nederland’s six baserunners were in scoring position. Landon Hiltz, who beat a throw to first base for a leadoff single in the first inning, was stranded at third with Trenton Simon at first after Miller struck out back-to-back batters.

The Bulldogs had a chance to tie in the fifth. Kyler Bertrand doubled with two outs and Hiltz reached on an error at shortstop, but Brian Davila got caught in a rundown between third and home for the final out. In the sixth, Alan Underwood walked and pinch runner Omar Mascorro stole a base with two outs, but Miller then delivered his 12th K.

Ortiz also hit a double for the Bulldogs.

Spell said his Game 2 starter is not yet determined. The winner of this series will play either Galena Park or Houston Austin.

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In a 2A area softball playoff Wednesday, Shiner defeated Sabine Pass 10-0 in Pearland.

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I.C. Murrell: 721-2435. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews