Blackcats hold off rival Ricebirds

April 10, 2008 - 9:46 a.m.


The Bay City Blackcats held off the El Campo Ricebirds for a 6-3 victory and remained in second place in District 24-4A with a 6-2 record on Tuesday, April 1, at Bay City. The game started out as a pitching duel between the Blackcats Zach Benson and the Ricebirds Matthew Hammon but Bay City came to life in the second inning with Chance Leissner getting the first hit of the game with a single to left field. Shaun Rutherford followed with a single to left field for the Blackcats. Chad Barrett moved the runners over with a perfect sacrificed bunt but the runners were stranded as both Derek Montgomery and Trevor Seidel grounded into outs to end the inning.

The scoreless game ended in the bottom of the third inning. Hamman fanned the first two Blackcat batters for El Campo but walked Travis Tomek to start the rally for Bay City. Benson tripled to right field and scored Tomek as the Blackcats led 1-0. Leissner walked to put runners on the corners. Fred Hawkins entered the game as a pinch runner for Leissner and answered the call by stealing second base and took third base when the ball skipped into centerfield scoring Benson for a 2-0 Blackcat advantage.

Hamman doubled in the fourth inning for the first hit of the game for El Campo with two outs but Benson fanned the next batter to end the threat for Bay City. Barrett opened the fourth inning for Bay City with an infield hit that hopped over the shortstop’s head. Montgomery followed with a perfect bunt single. Seidel placed a bunt down the first base line but made it to first on a throwing error as the catcher’s throw went over the first baseman’s head scoring Barrett from second for a 3-0 Bay City lead. Both runners moved to second and third on the throwing error. Montgomery scored on a wild pitch to end the scoring in the fourth for the Blackcats as they led 4-0.

El Campo had an opportunity to score in the top of the fifth inning as Holden Whitley started a rally with a two out single to centerfield. Tyler Socha followed with an infield single to right field but the next batter grounded out to end the inning. The Blackcats cushioned their lead in the bottom of the seventh inning as they scored two runs for a 6-0 advantage. Seidel started the rally with a single off the centerfield wall for the Blackcats with one out. D. J Dominguez popped up for the second out of the inning but Colby Hines kept the inning alive as he reached first on a wild throwing error. Both runners moved up on the fielding error. Tomek reached first on another error as the first baseman was off the bag. Both runners scored on the error.

The Ricebirds started a rally in the seventh inning. Michael Van Gork opened the inning with a double down the right field line followed by a single by Chase Bullard to place runners at the corners. Whitley walked to load the bases for El Campo. Tyler Socha scored the first run for the Ricebirds on a sacrifice ground out. Blake Korenek scored another run on an infield error as he reached first as El Campo narrowed the lead to 6-2. Landon Appling hits into a fielders choice scoring another runner from third. The Ricebirds edged closer to narrow the lead to 6-3 with the tying run at the plate but Hammon popped up to end the game. Bay City will host Katy Seven Lakes on Friday, April 11.

• Ross Cunningham is a reporter and photographer for the Matagorda Advocate. Contact him at 979-244-1330 or rcunningham@vicad.com.