Bearcats end tournament with mixed results

Aledo’s Bearcat baseball team entered the month of March competing in the DFW Clash Tournament hosted by Flower Mound, Eaton, Denton Guyer, and Little Elm High Schools. The Bearcats (7-4-1 overall) ended the weekend with a 3-2-1 record, earning wins over Lubbock Cooper, Haslet Eaton and Frisco Wakeland.

With spring break set to begin on Friday, and the district portion of the schedule looming when spring break concludes, getting as many innings under their belt as possible is the name of the game this early in the season. Playing six games in the span of three days, there was no shortage of innings to go around for the Bearcats.

Aledo got the tournament underway on Thursday, Feb. 29, with a pair of wins over Lubbock Cooper and V.R. Eaton.

Luke Sandefur tossed a five-inning gem for Aledo before being replaced on the mound by Noah Graham. The Bearcats surrendered a pair of unearned runs late, forcing the game into extra innings. Designated hitter Garrett Rester belted a game-winning, two-run home run in the top of the eighth. Graham shut the door behind him to earn the win on the bump for the Bearcats.

Beatin’ Eaton

In the nightcap on Thursday, Aledo earned the win in a low-scoring affair. V.R. Eaton took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. The Bearcats took the lead in the top of the second inning as the lineup turned over. Rhett Spiers and Lucas Trager came up with key at-bats in the inning, which allowed Rester and Johnny Ruflin to come around to score.

From there it was a pitching duel with Jenson Huffman doing his part to shut out V.R. Eaton in their final six trips to the plate. Huffman tossed a complete game, surrendering just a single run off two hits en route to the win.

Ready for the weekend

Friday was less kind to the Bearcats than Thursday had been. Aledo started the day with a 6-6 tie against the Pearland Oilers. They ended the night with their first loss of the tournament, 6-4, against the hosting Flower Mound Jaguars.

Saturday reset

Entering the final day of the tournament with a 2-1-1 record, Aledo rebounded on Saturday with a walk-off win over the Wakeland Wolverines. 

Wakeland scored three runs in the top of the sixth to take a late 4-3 lead. In the bottom half of the sixth, Zeke Garcia singled to drive in the tying run for the Bearcats as the two teams headed into the seventh inning.

Ryan Jones took over on the mound in the seventh inning for Aledo. Jones sat down the three batters he faced in order, giving the Bearcats an opportunity to win it all in the home half of the inning.

With Ruflin and Trager on base in front of him, Jones found a clean patch of grass in the outfield, driving in both runners with a walk-off double to win the game for the Bearcats.

Little Elm, little score

Eddie Howard took the ball to start the game on the mound for the Bearcats. He started off strong in his first three innings of work. In the fourth inning, however, Little Elm managed to score a pair of earned runs against him to make it a 2-0 ballgame midway through.

Aledo managed to get a run on the board to start off the sixth inning as Lucas Nawrocki drove in Drew Weckel. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough as Little Elm held on to win.

Up next

The Bearcats will host the Drew Medford Memorial Tournament this weekend before taking some time off for spring break next week. The tourney started on Thursday, March 7, and will run through Saturday, March 9.

DFW Clash Tournament

Aledo vs. Little Elm – Sat, Mar 2

RHE

Bearcats 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 - 1 7 0

Little Elm 0 0 0 0 2 0 x - 2 6 0

Aledo hitting: Boyd Thompson 2-for-4; Ryan Jones 2-for-3, 2B, BB; Drew Weckel 1-for-3, BB; Jake Bumgardner 1-for-4; Johnny Ruflin BB; Lucas Nawrocki 1-for-3, RBI, 2B; Luke Trager HBP.

Aledo pitching:  Eddie Howard 4 IP, 4 H, 2 R (2 earned), 2 BB, 6 K, 2 HBP; Boyd Thompson 2 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, K.

Aledo vs. Wakeland – Sat, Mar 2

RHE

Wakeland 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 - 4 6 1

Bearcats 0 0 0 0 3 1 2 - 6 5 1

Aledo hitting: Johnny Ruflin 1-for-1, 2B, 2 RBI; Luke Trager 1-for-3; Ryan Jones 1-for-2, 2B, RBI; Luke Sandefur 1-for-3,3B, N Graham 2 BB; Zeke Garcia 1-for-2, RBI, BB, J Cloke BB.

Aledo pitching:  Jake Bumgardner 4.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R (4 earned), 2 BB, 3 K; Ethan Hodo 1.1 IP, H, BB, K; Ryan Jones IP, K.

Aledo vs. Flower Mound  – Fri, Mar 1

RHE

Bearcats 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 - 4 8 2

Flower Mound 0 0 4 0 2 0 x - 6 4 1

Aledo hitting: Boyd Thompson 3-for-4; Luke Trager 2-for-4, 2 RBI, 2B; Brennon Evans 1-for-3; Ryan Jones 1-for-3, BB; Drew Weckel 1-for-4, 2 RBI, HR.

Aledo pitching:  Luke Saunders 4 IP, 3 H, 4 R (3 earned), 3 BB, 4 K; J Paulsen IP, H, 2 R (2 earned), BB; Lucas Nawrocki IP, BB, 2 K.

Aledo vs. Pearland – Fri, Mar 1

RHE

Pearland 0 0 0 0 1 0 5 - 6 7 2

Bearcats 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 - 6 10 2

Aledo hitting: Boyd Thompson 3-for-4, RBI 2B; Luke Trager BB; Ryan Jones 2-for-3, BB; Drew Weckel 1-for-4, RBI; Brennon Evans 1-for-3, BB; Garrett Rester 1-for-4, 2 RBI; Weston Nance 1-for-2, RBI, BB; Lucas Nawrocki 1-for-3, RBI, BB.

Aledo pitching:  Devin Miller 5 IP, 2 H, R (0 earned), 6 K; Rhett Spiers IP, 4 H, 5 R (4 earned), 2 BB, K; R Haug IP, H.

Aledo vs. V.R. Eaton – Thu, Feb 29

RHE

Bearcats 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 - 2 5 1

Eaton 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 1 2 4

Aledo hitting: Luke Trager 1-for-4, RBI; Ryan Jones 1-for-3, Garrett Rester 0-for-3; Johnny Ruflin 1-for-3; Lucas Nawrocki 2-for-3; Rhett Spiers 0-for-3, RBI.

Aledo pitching:  Jenson Huffman 7 IP, 2 H, R (earned), 2 BB, 4 K, HBP.

Aledo vs. Lubbock Cooper – Thu, Feb 29

RHE

Bearcats 0 0 0 0 0 1 1  2 - 4 5 1

LC 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 - 2 6 2

Aledo hitting: Boyd Thompson 1-for-3; Luke Trager 1-for-4; Drew Weckel 2-for-4, RBI; Weston Nance 1-for-3; Garrett Rester 2-for-3, HR, 2 RBI; Jake Bumgardner 1-for-4, 2B, RBI.

Aledo pitching:  Luke Sandefur 5 IP, 2 H, BB, 8 K; Noah Graham (W) 3 IP, 4 H, 2 R (0 earned), 2 BB, 2 K, HBP.