The Bearcats won 15-6 against the Rangers and 11-1 against the Panthers in five innings, but only played two and half innings against the Marauders and were up 2-1.
Aledo first played the second game of its series against Chisholm Trail on March 27 at home. It was cold and windy. With the team having beaten the Rangers 10-0 in run-rule fashion combined with the conditions might have led to the team not playing up to its usual standard despite winning easily.
Chisholm Trail scored two runs in the first inning, but Aledo did not take long to reestablish control of the game with its bats. The Bearcats got a three-run home run from Lucas Nawrocki to get the lead back at 3-2 and never relinquish it heading into the second inning.
Aledo’s next time at-bat, Luke Gladchuk hit an RBI triple followed by RBI singles from Landon Barnes and Will Cayce. The Bearcats’ lead grew to 6-2.
The Rangers scored two runs in the third inning, including one on an error in the outfield, to cut the lead down to 6-4. Still, the Bearcat bats could not be quelled.
Gladchuk hit a three-run home home run followed later in the inning by Cayce driving in two runs on a single. Aledo’s lead was 11-4.
The Bearcats went for the kill in the fourth inning. Connor Whitmire drove in two runs with a triple. Wilson Sehnem and Barnes followed with RBI singles to put Aledo up 15-4, above the 10-run margin teams need to be for the game to be called after five innings. The Bearcats just needed to hold Chisholm Trail from scoring two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Unfortunately, that is what happened. The Rangers loaded the bases with no outs and a sacrifice fly and a mistake trying to cover a double-steal allowed two runs to score to cut the lead to 15-6 and the game played on.
Aledo could still end the game by scoring at least one run, but the bats went cold in the fifth and sixth innings. Still, the Bearcat pitching and defense held on to not let the Rangers get any closer.
Aledo won 15-6.
Gladchuk led the team with four RBIs and a home run. Nawrocki and Cayce also drove in three runs apiece as well, with Nawrocki hitting a home run. As a team, Aledo finished with 14 hits and drew nine walks while stealing five bases.
Luke Sandefur got the start on the mound and pitched four innings while giving up four runs, two earned runs, on one hit while striking out seven and walking three batters. Garrett Love came in to pitch relief the final three innings and allowed two runs on two hits while striking out four and walking three batters. The defense uncharacteristically committed three fielding errors.
Coach Chad Barry did not think his team played up to its usual standard despite the win.
“I know it was tough weather conditions, but I told them it’s not an excuse,” Barry said. “Everyone was playing in the same conditions. Weather is never going to be an excuse for us. We were sloppy on defense and just had a bad feeling and taste in our mouth even though we hit the ball very well.”
Barry was hoping the team could wash the funk from the performance the following day on March 28 at home, playing another highly ranked team in 6A Flower Mound Marcus for a bit of non-district competition. Unfortunately, the players literally got washed, but only after two innings were played.
The Panthers scored first on an RBI single. Aledo answered in the same inning as Nawrocki drove in one run with a single to tie the game at 1-1. In the second inning, Dylan Duran took advantage of a passed ball to score and make it 2-1.
Unfortunately, the rain then started to come down harder than anticipated. Despite the Bearcat’s’ turf field being more resilient to inclement weather than a traditional turf field, it was decided the rain was coming down too hard for either coach to feel safe about their players continuing that day. Barry hopes he is able to make up the game at a later date if both teams can make it work with their schedules.
Aledo had to wait until March 31, playing the first game of its district series against Fossil Ridge on the road before it could make up for its performance the previous game.
The Bearcats bats got to work as Barnes hit a sacrifice fly ball to drive in one run. Later with the bases loaded Poindexter drove in two runs with a single to make it 3-0.
Nawrocki ran into some trouble on the mound in the first inning. After giving up a single and walk, an attempted double play at second base resulted in an error that allowed one run to score to cut the lead to 3-1. Another walk loaded the bases up with one out, but Nawrocki struck out the next two batters to get out of the jam.
From there it was a near flawless performance both with the bats and on defense.
Gladchuk drove in one run in the second inning to make it 4-1. The team got busy in the third inning. Poindexter and Whitmire drove in runs with singles. An error by Fossil Ridge’s catcher allowed another run to score and then Gladchuk drove in a run with a double.
Aledo led 8-1.
The Bearcats put the game away in the fourth inning. Cayce hit an RBI triple. Duran drove him in next with a ground out at second base. Later in the inning, Reid Huffman was able to score on a steal home as Aledo executed a beautiful double-steal attempt.
The Bearcats led 11-1 and just had to hold the Panthers from scoring.
Nawrocki and the defense took care of that as Aledo won 11-1 after five innings.
Poindexter led the team with three RBIs and Gladchuk was second with two. The Bearcats finished with 11 hit and drew four walks while stealing five bases.
Defensively Nawrocki pitched all five innings and allowed one run, zero runs earned, on two hits while striking out 12 batters and walking two. The defense committed one fielding error that led to the run.
Despite that one mistake, Barry felt much better about how his team performed as a whole.
“We were much more sharper than we were last Friday,” Barry said. “I thought we showed we were much better tonight. Set a tone early. Had a little miscue on a ball defensively, but played clean after that. We ran the bases extremely well, almost too aggressive at times which is what we talked about.”
Aledo is next scheduled to play at 7 p.m. on April 7 at Saginaw and at home on April 10.
Bearcats 15, Chisholm Trail 6
RHE
Chisholm 202 020 0 - 6 3 1
Aledo 335 400 x - 15 14 3
Aledo offense: Luke Gladchuk two hits, one home run, one triple, four RBIs, two runs, one walk; Lucas Nawrocki one hit, one home run, three RBIs, two runs, three walks; Will Cayce two hits, three RBIs; Connor Whitmire two hits, one triple, two RBIs, one run; Landon Barnes three hits, two RBIs, three runs, three steals, one walk; Wilson Sehnem two hits, one RBI, two runs, two steals; Jackson Loos four walks, three runs; Kyle Poindexter one hit, one double, one run; Dylan Duran one hit, one double.
Aledo pitching: Luke Sandefur (W) four innings, one hit, four runs, two earned runs, seven strikeouts, three walks; Garrett Love three innings, two hits, two runs, four strikeouts, three walks.
Bearcats 2, Flower Mound Marcus 1
RHE
Marcus 100 - 1 3 0
Aledo 11x - 2 3 0
Aledo offense: Lucas Nawrocki one hit, one RBI; Dylan Duran one hit, one run; Reid Huffman one hit; Jackson Loos two walks; Landon Barnes one steal, one run; Kaler Mazon one steal.
Aledo pitching: Teryn Byrne 2.1 innings, three hits, one run, one strikeout.
Bearcats 11, Fossil Ridge 1
RHE
Aledo 314 30 - 11 11 1
Fossil 100 00 - 1 2 3
Aledo offense: Kyle Poindexter two hits, one double, three RBIs; Luke Gladchuk two hits, one double, two RBIs, one run, one steal; Landon Barnes one hit, one double, one RBI, one run; Will Cayce one hit, one triple, one RBI, two runs, one walk; Dylan Duran two hits, one double, one RBI, two runs; Reid Huffman two hits, one double, one run, one steal; Jackson Loos two walks, one run, one steal; Connor Whitmire one hit, one RBI; Wilson Sehnem two steals, one run, one walk; Kaler Mazon one run; Jordan Stone one run.
Aledo pitching: Lucas Nawrocki (W) five innings, two hits, one run, zero earned runs, 12 strikeouts, two walks.
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