The Aledo Bearcats are heading back to the state championship after beating McKinney North 2-0 in the state semifinal series last week at Dallas Baptist University.
The Bearcats won the first game by run-rule 12-2 after five innings on May 28, but Game 2 went down to the wire, thanks to a seventh-inning grand slam from Lucas Nawrocki, Aledo won the closeout game 7-6 on May 29 to win the series.
The Bearcats came into the series as favorites, but the Bulldogs came in with a lot of belief after beating a highly touted Melissa team in their regional title series in three games.
Aledo showed why they were favorites in the bottom of the second inning. The Bearcats loaded the bases up with two singles and a walk with no outs. Jackson Loos drew a walk to drive in the first run of the game.
After a strikeout, Lucas Nawrocki hit an RBI single followed by Luke Gladchuk drawing a walk that drove in another run. Landon Barnes followed with a single that drove in two runs followed by Dylan Duran hitting an RBI single.
This caused McKinney North to change pitchers. Wilson Sehnem drew a walk to load the bases up again before Kyle Poindexter hit a sacrifice fly ball as another run came in to score.
Aledo led 7-0 heading into the third inning.
The Bearcats continued to pour it on next time up to bat even as the Bulldogs switched to their third pitcher to start the inning. Aledo loaded the bases with a single and two walks and had only one out. Barnes drove in two runs with a double. A walk loaded the bases again and after a pop-up for out two, Poindexter drove in three runs with a double as Aledo led 12-0.
McKinney North got on the board in the fourth inning. A double and single put runners at the corners before a ground out to second base drove one run in. Two walks followed that loaded the bases before a ground out at first base allowed another run to come in. Nawrocki stopped the bleeding with a strikeout.
In the fifth inning, Caleb Turner came in to pitch in relief. The Bulldogs needed to score one run to keep the game going and not be run-ruled. They got two runners on base with a one-out single and a two-out walk. A wild pitch put the lead runner on third base, but the next batter grounded out to the shortstop for out three.
The Bearcats won 12-2.
Barnes and Poindexter led the team with four RBI each, while Barnes had a team-high three hits. As a team, Aledo finished with 11 hits and drew eight walks.
On the mound, Nawrocki pitched four innings and allowed two runs on three hits while striking out four and walking four. The defense committed one fielding error.
Coach Chad Barry thought his whole lineup was rolling during those two innings that added up to the 12 runs for his team.
“In Game 1 I felt like we seemed to be really disciplined at the plate,” Barry said. “We didn’t chase pitches out of the strike zone much. That led to some walks and we got some big hits with guys on base.”
The next day saw a completely different game as the Bearcats went for the series closeout and the Bulldogs were playing for their lives.
Luke Sandefur got in trouble in the first inning. Two walks and a fielding error at third base allowed the bases to get loaded with only one out. A fielder’s choice out at home and a fly out to right field got him out of the mess unfettered.
After another scoreless inning, McKinney North got on the board first in the third inning. Two singles and a wild pitch put runners at the corners with no outs. A sacrifice fly ball allowed one run to score.
Following a walk, a hard-hit ball up the middle allowed one run to score. An error on the throw into the infield allowed the other base runner to score as the Bulldogs jumped out to a 3-0 lead.
McKinney North added to it in the fourth inning. A leadoff triple saw Dane Browne come in to pitch relief for Aledo. He couldn’t prevent a sacrifice fly ball to left field, which allowed the base runner to come in and score as the Bulldogs now led 4-0.
The Bearcat bats had not had much success getting more than one base runner on during the first four innings, but got some luck to help them in the fifth inning.
Poindexter hit a one-out single. He stole second base before Will Cayce hit a ground ball to second base that resulted in an error that allowed Poindexter to come in and score, cutting the lead to 4-1.
Aledo got some more help from Bulldog errors in the sixth inning. Barnes was able to reach second base thanks to a fly ball that was dropped on the run. Two batters later Dylan Duran drove him in with a single to cut the lead to 4-2.
McKinney North got the run back in the same inning. A walk and hit batter put two base runners on before a wild pitch moved both into scoring position before a sacrifice fly ball drove the lead runner home.
Aledo went into the seventh and final inning trailing 5-2.
The Bearcats got to work, loading the bases up with two walks and single with one out. Gladchuk was then hit by a pitch to drive in one run before a strikeout followed for the second out.
Aledo was down to its final out with the bases loaded and had Nawrocki coming up to the plate. Despite being one of the team’s most dangerous hitters all season, he was 0-2 with one drawn walk in the game and 2-6 in the series with one RBI.
“When Nawrocki came up, I felt like we had done what we were trying to do,” Barry said. “We were trying to get the middle of our order to the plate to give us a shot. I kind of thought they might try to pitch around him. But I felt like if they pitched to him he had a good chance to tie the game.”
He took the first pitch for a strike before swinging and connecting on a no-doubt-about-it grand slam over the right field wall that would have cleared any major league park.
All the emotions came out for the Aledo team. Nawrocki’s bat flip went as high as any this season before running the bases with as much pumped-up swagger as could be expected for coming through in that situation. Batting helmet spiked, skipping the final steps home before multiple chest bumps with teammates who were equally as pumped followed.
The grand slam put the Bearcats ahead 7-5, giving them their first lead as McKinney North was now down to its last three outs.
Garrett Love came in to close out the game. It was rocky, as two singles and a walk loaded up the bases with no outs. A sacrifice fly ball followed that drove in one run and put the tying run on third base with only one out. Another sacrifice fly ball would have done it or a ground out that could not quickly be thrown home. A bunt could have tied it as well. One important thing to remember was the runner on first base did not advance, which would become relevant soon.
The next batter hit a ground ball to second base, but with three hops it was too slow for the throw home to be in time. Instead, Barnes tossed it quickly to second base where Cayce caught it for an out before throwing the ball in stride to first base for the game-ending double play.
First baseman Jackson Loos caught it cleanly and was the first to dogpile on Love before the rest of the team followed. Aledo had held on to win 7-6, winning the series 2-0.
Nawrocki’s grand slam led the team with four RBI. Aledo finished with seven hits and drew four walks.
Browne pitched three innings of relief and allowed one run on one hit while striking out one batter. The Bearcat defense finished with two fielding errors.
The win means Aledo will have a chance to defend its 5A Division I state title, playing Lake Creek. The Lions upset nationally ranked Leander Rouse in the state semifinal and will be the underdogs, but Barry and the team aren’t going to take them lightly.
“Lake Creek is a really improved ball club from early on in their season,” Barry said. “They have several pitchers they can go to. They have a really consistent lineup 1-9. They can steal bases and bunt. They can definitely put substantial pressure on your defense when they are on base.”
Barry feels like if his team plays like it has all season, doing all of the fundamental things he preaches to his team every day, then the Bearcats will have a good shot at repeating as state champions.
The game is scheduled for 4 p.m. on June 5 at Dell Diamond Field in Round Rock.
Aledo offense: Landon Barnes three hits, one double, four RBI, two runs; Kyle Poindexter one hit, one double, four RBI, one run; Jackson Loos one hit, one RBI, two runs, two walks; Lucas Nawrocki two hits, one RBI; Dylan Duran two hits, one RBI, one run, one walk; Luke Gladchuk one RBI, two runs, two walks, one steal; Wilson Sehnem one hit, one run, one walk; Will Cayce one hit, one run; Connor Whitmire one walk.
Aledo pitching: Lucas Nawrocki four innings, three hits, two runs, four strikeouts, four walks; Caleb Turner one inning, one hit, zero runs, one walk.
Aledo offense: Lucas Nawrocki one hit, one home run, four RBI, one run, one walk; Dylan Duran one hit, one RBI; Luke Gladchuk one RBI, one run; Connor Whitmire two hits, one walk; Wilson Sehnem one run, one walk; Kyle Poindexter one hit, one run, one steal; Landon Barnes one hit, one run; Will Cayce one hit; Jackson Loos one walk; Kaler Mazon one steal.
Aledo pitching: Luke Sandefur three innings, five hits, four runs, three earned runs, three walks; Dane Browne three innings, one hit, one run, one strikeout, one walk; Garrett Love one inning, two hits, one run, one walk.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here