By James LaCombe

Galveston County Daily News

GALVESTON — The Nederland Bulldogs pitched a combined one-hitter and scored all three of their runs without having a ball leave the infield in a 3-1 win Friday that clinched the 5A bi-district series over the Ball High Tornadoes.

Nederland recorded two of its runs in the top of the second, which started with Rene Cunningham working a leadoff walk and Kamden Grant beating out a bunt single. A Corbin Chandler sacrifice bunt moved both runners into scoring position, and the first run scored on a fielder’s choice grounder. A run-scoring groundout made the tally 2-0 in the Bulldogs’ favor.

Landon Hiltz led off the top of the fifth with a walk, moved to second on a passed ball, advanced to third on a wild pitch and hustled home on another passed ball to put Nederland up, 3-0.

Ball High scored its lone run of the game onto the scoreboard in the bottom of the sixth, and made things interesting with an attempted rally in the bottom of the seventh.

Chris Orton led off the sixth by getting hit by a pitch, and jogged to second on a walk to Jaylan Nixon. Both runners got into scoring position on a passed ball, and Orton scored on an RBI fielder’s choice grounder by Edgar Salinas.

Adam Trevino finally ended Nederland’s no-hitter bid with a leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh, and Gabe Freeman worked a two-out walk to extend the game, but a well fielded 5-3 put-out ended the game and the series.

Jacob Mares, who started and got a complete-game win in Game 2, started Game 3 for the Bulldogs and gave up just one walk with three strikeouts in two hitless, scoreless innings. Then winning pitcher Noah Gregory threw the final five innings, giving up one hit, three walks and one earned run with five strikeouts.

 

Game 2

Nederland 5,

Ball 3

GALVESTON — Nederland took advantage of some sloppy Ball High defense to rally from behind for a 5-3 win.

Trailing 3-2 heading into the top of the sixth inning, the Bulldogs were able to plate three runs without recording a base hit thanks to some mental lapses in the field by the Tors.

Kamden Grant and Corbin Chandler started the frame by reaching base on a pair of errors, and after a Brian Davis sac bunt put both runners in scoring position, Landon Hiltz hit an RBI sac fly, which saw a second run score on an errant relay throw to the plate.

With two outs and the runner going on contact, a dropped pop fly in the infield scored a run to push Nederland’s lead to 5-3.

Nederland scored the first run of the game in the top of the first back when the game originally began Thursday. Hiltz led off with a single, was moved to second base on a sac bunt, and then with two outs, Brock Holton hit a clutch RBI single.

Ball High led off the bottom of the first with consecutive singles from Chris Holton and Jaylan Nixon, but Nederland recorded two outs on a fielder’s choice and a fly out after that before repeated lightning strikes in the area forced the game to be postponed to Friday afternoon.

When play resumed Friday, the Bulldogs intentionally walked Adam Trevino to load the bases, and then back-to-back passed balls saw the Tors take a 2-1 lead.

Ball High tacked on its third run in the bottom of the third on an RBI single from Thomas Farmer, and Nederland cut the lead to 3-2 in the top of the fifth on a run-scoring fielder’s choice.

Jacob Mares pitched the complete-game win for Nederland. He finished with three runs on seven hits with one walk and eight strikeouts.