Baseball: Gem from Miller, late offensive surge clinch area title for Aledo

FORT WORTH – The Aledo Bearcats last laid claim to the state title in 2014 with the program’s latest appearance coming a year later in 2015. During the current season, the No. 5 Aledo Bearcats are continuing to achieve the goals they set for themselves ahead of the new year on the diamond. The Bearcats reached their latest milestone in finishing off a series sweep in the area round over the Arlington Heights Yellowjackets. Following a 12-2 home victory via run-rule in Game 1, the Bearcats completed the series sweep with a gritty 5-1 win behind quality pitching from junior Devin Miller and a late surge from the Bearcats’ bats at the plate.

“It says a lot about starting strong and finishing stronger, and I think that was a perfect bookend to tonight,” Bearcats head coach Chad Barry said. “In the first inning, we started strong (scoring the game’s first two runs), we kind of had a lull in there and I tip my hat to their pitcher (Morgan Garrett, Cisco Junior College commit). He’s an incredible competitor and a good quality pitcher who is going to pitch at the next level. We got his pitch count up, got him a little labored there at the end and we were able to get good barrels on the bats late with two outs. That’s what impressed me the most – we were able to put up three more runs with two outs against us. That’s a sign of things moving in the right direction.”

Impressively, all five of the Bearcats’ runs came with two outs. Aledo drew first blood on the scoreboard in the top of the first inning. Aledo right fielder Luke Trager smashed a two-out RBI double that scored Landon Barnes and Lucas Nawrocki that gave Aledo its first two runs.

In the bottom of the frame, Miller took the mound for Aledo, who was trying to advance to the regional semifinals for the second consecutive season. Although he saw a comebacker hit off his gloved left hand during his first at bat for an infield single that eventually resulted in a rundown between third and home, which favored Aledo in a masterfully executed pickle drill and preserved the 2-0 lead.

Heights eventually got on the board with an RBI groundout in the bottom of the third, but Miller settled in and shut down the opposing batting order the rest of the way, allowing only one hit in the remaining four innings.

“It feels amazing and you’ve got to give it to the guys,” Miller said. “It’s not just a one-man game, it’s a team game. They came out hot with the bats in that last inning and gave me the confidence to go out in that last inning and shut them out.”

Geoff Heppes/The Community News

The game remained deadlocked at 2-1 all the way into the seventh inning, with impressive catches on the run made in the outfield by Trager and Luke Gladchuk complementing quality infield play along the way. Through the waning stretch of the game, Miller used his devastating breaking ball pitches to quickly usher Arlington Heights batters to the dugout. Impressively, Miller collected seven of his nine strikeouts after the third inning.

“You can’t just use the fastball, you have to use all your pitches equally,” Miller said. “I was throwing strikes with everything, everything was on today and I was able to get a lot of swings and misses. The balls that went into play went right to my guys and they did the rest.”

After Aledo’s first two batters were retired in order to open the seventh inning, Blake Burdine hit a double to the right-center gap and Barnes followed that with his own double to the same spot on the field to score Burdine for a 3-1 lead. After that, Nawrocki added an RBI single to right that made it 4-1 and, after a single by Trager, Nic Foster thumped an RBI single to push the lead to 5-1, which held up as the final score following two Miller strikeouts and a popout to second base in the bottom of the frame.

Miller threw all seven innings for Aledo with nine strikeouts against four hits, one walk and one earned run. Offensively, Barnes, Foster and Trager had two hits apiece for Aledo and combined for four RBI. Barnes also stole a base while Trager accounted for two of those four RBI. Burdine and Nawrocki each recorded one hit and one run for the Bearcats with the latter producing an RBI. Gladchuk also contributed with one hit and one stolen base.

Now, the Bearcats will march on to regionals with an upcoming bout in the regional semifinals.

“At this time of year, every time you move on is a blessing,” Barry said. “It’s a blessing that you get to play another week, and every week the field gets cut in half, so you have to take advantage of the opportunity. We aren’t going to change up our preparation working on the same things we’ve worked on all year long. If we see something in a game, we will address it. But, at this point in the year, we can either hit and field or we can’t. Now, it’s just about trying to stay sharp at the plate, on defense, keeping the pitchers in a rhythm and routine and just moving forward with what we’ve got.”

Aledo (25-7, 10-0) will begin their best-of-three series against the Amarillo Sandies in the regional semifinals with the first pitch of Game 1 scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, May 15, at Iowa Park High School. Game 2 will begin at 1 p.m. Friday at the same location with a decisive Game 3 to follow at 4 p.m. if necessary.