The Bearcats beat the Pirates 7-4, lost a non-district game against Lake Ridge 7-5 and came back late to squeak by the Hornets 3-2.
Aledo knew it would be tough heading into Granbury to try and get a second win. The first game was competitive as the Bearcats won 5-1, but the Pirates would be motivated and their team believed they could be the team to upset state-ranked Aledo in the district.
The Bearcats had to stamp out that belief early in the game. In the first inning, Landon Barnes drove in two runs with a single. Next batters Lucas Nawrocki and Will Cayce hit back-to-back RBI singles as Aledo jumped out to a 4-0 lead before the Pirates had even batted.
Neither team could get any more than one runner on base at a time until the fourth inning when the Bearcats added to their lead.
With runners on third and second base, a wild pitch allowed Wilson Sehnem to come in and score to make it 5-0.
Granbury’s bats came alive in the five inning. Two walks and a single loaded the bases up with one out. A sacrifice fly allowed one run to score. After a hit batter loaded the bases again, a single drove in two more runs. Later a wild pitch allowed another run to come in as the Pirates cut the lead to 5-4 before pitcher Dane Browne struck out the batter for out three.
Granbury had the momentum, but could not tie or take the lead in the sixth inning as it went to the seventh. Aledo got some insurance with Barnes leading off with a double. Later with two outs, Dylan Duran hit a two-run home run over the left field fence. Aledo led 7-4.
From there, Browne shrugged off a leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh to strike out three straight batters to close the game.
Duran and Barnes each led the team with two RBIs, with Duran hitting a home run and Barnes hitting a double. As a team, Aledo finished with seven hits and drew three walks while taking advantage of four fielding errors from Granbury.
On the mound, Luke Sandefur got the start and pitched 4.1 innings, allowed two runs on two hits while striking out four batters. Dane Browne pitched the final 2.1 innings and allowed only one hit and zero runs while striking out six batters.
Barry thought it was a tough game and liked how his pitchers came through in a high pressure situation, something he hopes bodes well going forward.
Aledo then had a non-district game the next day at home against Lake Ridge to celebrate senior night. While it was another good opportunity for Barry to get his bench guys and bullpen pitchers some in-game action, Barry used the game to celebrate his seniors.
The Bearcats tried to win, but players were in different positions than usual, some pitchers got to hit and the game just was not taken as seriously as other games which led to an unlikely loss to the Eagles.
Nawrocki led the team with two RBI while Brady Huffman and Jasper Case each drove in one run each. As a team, Aledo finished with six hits and drew 10 walks. Case also had a good day on the mound, pitching two scoreless innings while not giving up any hits and striking out five batters.
The loss prevented more celebrations from taking place since it delayed Barry from earning his 400th career win. That would be delayed until the Bearcats hosted Azle.
The Hornets are a team scraping to try and make the playoffs sitting in fifth place heading into the final week. That desperation must have driven them to give Aledo more trouble than anyone thought possible.
In the first inning, it looked like the Bearcats were going to get an early lead. Aledo loaded the bases with two walks and a dropped fly ball with only one out. Unfortunately, a fly out to the catcher and a strikeout followed, which ended the Bearcats’ best chance to score for most of the game.
Azle’s pitcher Martin Baledeias, despite not throwing crazy velocity, did enough through the next four innings to not allow Aledo any hits or any more than one base runner.
“Their lefty did a great job of keeping us off-balanced,” Barry said. “He commanded three pitches for strikes all night. I kept telling our guys we need to make adjustments. We’ve got to stop trying to pull the ball to left field. At the same time, he’s really painting his spots and making things really difficult on us.”
Nawrocki got the start on the mound and pitched three scoreless innings while striking out eight batters, but Barry decided to put Byrne in to start the fourth inning to give him some more reps from the bullpen in a game that mattered.
Azle got to him early, hitting an RBI single and a sacrifice fly ball, both resulting in plays at the plate that went the Hornets’ way, to get two runs on the board in the fourth inning as the the team was fired up leading Aledo 2-0.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Bearcat bats woke up. After two singles got runners on with only one out, Cayce came through with an RBI single. Next batter Reid Huffman laid down a perfect bunt to reach first base and drive in another run to tie the game.
Following another single to load the bases, the Hornets got a force out at home plate for out two.
Next batter Wilson Sehnem hit a ground ball to second base. The Hornet player fumbled it for a second which allowed Sehnem to beat the throw to first base and allow Aledo to take the lead 3-2 heading into the final inning.
Azle was not giving up, leading off with a single and a drawn walk. Byrne recovered, striking out the next two batters before the final batter popped up to right field for out three as the Bearcats stole the win.
The win was the 400th of Barry’s career as his team dumped ice water on him and celebrated with bottles of Coke and a banner.
“It represents the commitment to the baseball program, the community, the kids, the families, and staff,” Barry said. “I’ve been blessed with a lot of really talented baseball players and teams that make my job a lot easier. I’ve had some really great assistant coaches along the way to help out.”
Aledo is scheduled to finish up district with a game at Azle at 7 p.m. on April 24.
Bearcats 7, Granbury 4
RHE
Aledo 400 100 2 - 7 7 0
G’bury 000 040 0 - 4 4 4
Aledo offense: Dylan Duran one hit, one home run, two RBIs, one run; Landon Barnes two hits, one double, two RBIs, two runs, one steal; Kyle Poindexter two hits, one double, one run, one walk; Lucas Nawrocki one hit, one RBI, one run; Will Cayce one RBI; Kaler Mazon one hit, one steal, one walk.
Aledo pitching: Luke Sandefur (W) 4.1 innings, two hits, two runs, four strikeouts, three walks; Jake Schull 0.1 innings, one hit, two runs, one walk; Dane Brown 2.1 innings, one hit, zero runs, six strikeouts.
Lake Ridge 7, Bearcats 5
RHE
LRidg 110 230 0 - 7 9 2
Aledo 000 200 3 - 5 6 1
Aledo offense: Lucas Nawrocki one hit, two RBIs, one run, one walk; Brady Huffman one RBI; Jasper Case one RBI, one walk; Landon Barnes one hit, one double, one walk; Kyle Poindexter one run, one walk; Miller Hill one hit, one run, one walk; Dylan Duran one hit, one steal; Will Cayce one walk; Reid Huffman two walks; Jackson Loos one walk; Tanner Tovar one hit, one run; Kason Evans two steals; Wilson Sehnem one steal; Kaler Mazon one steal.
Aledo pitching: Teryn Byrne three innings, six hits, two runs, three strikeouts, one walk; Brady Huffman two innings, three hits, five runs, two earned runs, two strikeouts, three walks; Jasper Case two innings, zero hits, zero runs, five strikeouts, one walk.
Bearcats 3, Azle 2
RHE
Azle 000 200 0 - 2 3 2
Aledo 000 003 x - 3 5 1
Aledo offense: Reid Huffman one hit, one RBI, one run; Will Cayce one hit, one RBI; Luke Gladchuk one hit, one run, one walk; Dylan Duran one hit, one run; Jackson Loos one hit, one walk; Kyle Poindexter one walk, one steal; Wilson Sehnem one walk.
Aledo pitching: Lucas Nawrocki three innings, zero hits, zero runs, eight strikeouts, one walk; Teryn Byrne four innings, three hits, two runs, six strikeouts, four walks.
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