Bobcats alone in first place

Last week began with three undefeated teams tied for first place in the District 22-3A baseball standings. This week there is only one team without a loss in the district and it is the Orangefield Bobcats.

On Monday, March 20, the Bobcats handed the Buna Cougars their first loss in district by a score of 5-2 at Orangefield. Friday night the Bobcats did the same to the Hardin Hornets shutting them out 15-0 at Hardin.

Orangefield pitcher Jason Bodin had been nursing a sore arm through the first four games of district without throwing any innings on the mound. Bodin threw three shutout innings Friday allowing no hits, walking one, and striking out five Hornets to earn the win.

Tim Erickson the coach of the Bobcats said they gave Bodin ten days or so off to rest his arm. "We started to work Jason back into the rotation this week. We'll extend him out and kind of work him more as far as pitch count duration," Erickson explained.

Colten Myers pitched one hitless inning to complete the shutout and the no-hitter over four innings when the 15-run rule was invoked. The Bobcat fielders played well not committing an error in the victory.

The Bobcats scored in the first inning on a stolen base. Rusten Traxler doubled home another run in the first. Rusten joined teammates Camden Fountain and Logan Cheek with multiple hits in the game.

An eight run explosion in the fourth inning gave Orangefield their fifteen-run lead. Matthew Johnson, Adam Tran, Brycen Tait, Gavin Pollock, and Traxler all had runs batted in during the big inning.

A schedule change has Orangefield playing on Monday this week at Kountze instead of on Tuesday. Friday's game will be at Anahuac for the Bobcats and marks the end of the first half of district competition.