The Record Newspapers - Hometown News For Orange County, Texas

The Bridge

City Cardinals had an exciting series against the Giddings Buffaloes;

taking the series in two games. The Cardinals’ pitching staff seems to

be peaking at the right time. They will have to be firing on all

cylinders on the offensive side of the ball as they will face the

Robinson Rockets in the Region III semifinal.

The series against

Robinson will be a best-of-three. Game one is schedule for 7:30

Thursday. Game two will start at 4:30 Saturday and game three 30 minutes

after game two, if needed. Game one will be played at Magnolia West

High School, and game two and three will be played at Magnolia High

School.

The Rockets are the Dist. 19-3A champs with a district record

of 10-0, and 27-5 overall. In the THSBCA polls rank Robinson as the No.

2 team in the state, and they are the No. 6 state ranked in the Class

3A baseball poll. Robinson has defeated Bullard and China Springs, while

Bridge City has defeated Smithville and Giddings to set up this

semi-final matchup. Bridge City/Robinson winner will meet the winner of

the Diboll/La Grange in the regional finals.

Bridge City jumped out

to a two run lead after the first inning. Cameron Dishon led off with a

single, stole second and went to third on a Matt Menard single. Menard

also swiped second, and Dishon and Menard both scored on a wild pitch.

The Cardinals extended their lead in the second inning, Bryce Sampere

walked and scored on Dylan Mulhollan’s RBI double making the score 3-0.

Forrest Zoch added a single to his stats in the fourth inning. After two

strikeouts by Zoch in the top of the fifth, Giddings loaded the bases

with an infield hit, hit by pitch, and a base of balls. Zoch caught a

line drive to end the top half of the inning leaving the bases loaded.

In

the bottom of the fifth the first pitch was missed by Giddings’

catcher, striking the umpire. The incident led to the catcher being

ejected. Bridge City broke things open and gained some momentum in the

following inning with five runs. Menard reached first after a strikeout

but the catcher could not hold on to the ball. Menard stole his second

base of the game and scored on a Mitchel Hubbard RBI double. Preston

Pitman hit a single scoring Hubbard. Mulhollan was hit by a pitch and

Chance Lemoine and Jason Brossard both scored on Brandon Simoneaux’s

triple. Lemoine and Brossard were running for Pitman and Mulhollan.

Simoneaux scored the last run of the inning with a pass ball.

In the

top of the seventh, Zoch, who pitched a gem of a ballgame, hit two

batters and walked one to load the bases. After a strikeout Hayden

Guidry replaced Zoch, giving up two hits that allowed Giddings to score

three runs. On one hit Giddings tried to stretch it out from first to

third, but they were thrown out by Simoneaux. Guidry struck out the next

batter to give the Cardinals game one, with a score of 8-3. Zoch

recorded eleven strikeouts, gave up three hits, three walks, and hit

three batters in his effort for the win.

In the second game, it was

Giddings who jumped out to a one run lead in the first inning, but that

would be all the Cardinals’ pitcher, Jake Lemoine, would allow. Giddings

would score their only run with three hits in the first inning. Lemoine

buckled down and pitched into the seventh inning giving up only three

more hits, walking four, hitting one batter, while striking out ten. The

Cardinals tied the game in the top of the second. With two outs in the

inning, Mulhollan and Pitman each reached with singles and Simoneaux

scored Mulhollan with an RBI single.

The game stayed tied until the

seventh. In the seventh Pitman had his second single of the game,

followed by a walk to Simoneaux. With two outs in the inning, shortstop

Zach Smith stepped in and ripped, what looked like a ball that would hit

the fence, however; it left the park in a hurry for a clutch three run

homer. You just knew Giddings would not go down easy. There were three

key double plays turned in the game. One by Giddings, and two by the

Cardinals, but none as big at the double play in the seventh inning.

Lemoine

struck out the first batter in the seventh inning. He hit the number

eight hitter and walked the number nine hitter. When Giddings’ pitcher,

and UT signee, Brooks Marlow, who took his first loss of the year on the

mound stepped in, you knew something was going to happen. Marlow had

already had two hard hit singles, one deep fly ball, a long foul ball

that went out of the park, and he had put the bat on the ball on

everything the Cardinals had to offer in both games. Coach Landry made

the call to not let Marlow swing the bat, and told Lemoine to put him on

to load the bases and bring the winning run to the plate.

With

Guidry in the bull pen and Zoch in right field, Landry decided to bring

in game one pitcher Zoch to relieve Lemoine. Zoch only needed one pitch

to end the game and give Lemoine and the Cardinals the win, as well as a

trip to the semifinal round. A ground ball was hit to Pitman at third;

Pitman touched third and threw over to Mulhollan for a huge double play

that ended the game with the score 4-1.

BCISD school board president Tom Orozco said, “It’s a great day to be a Cardinal.”

Come on out and support the Cardinals as they take on the Robinson Rockets. See you at the park!