By Caleb Adams

Leader Correspondent

BRIDGE CITY — The Bridge City Cardinals fell hard to the Silsbee Tigers 9-1 Tuesday night at Cardinal Field in the District 22-4A opener for both teams.

The Tigers (15-2, 1-0) had 10 hits while the Cardinals (9-6, 0-1) had four as Silsbee found the hot bats in the fourth frame.

The biggest reason the Tigers pulled it out was because of starting pitcher Travis Sundgren. Sundgren recorded nine strikeouts in six innings while giving up just four hits on the night. Shortstop for the Tigers Chase Partain went 4-for-5 with a grand slam, and five runs batted in on the night.

For Bridge City, Caleb Dubois led the team going 2-for-3 with a single and a double.

The Tigers struck first early with one run in the first off of a Travis Sundgren hit to right field driving in Partain.

Bridge City would strike back in the bottom of the third. Logan Hamm started the inning off with a long triple to right center and Justyn Romero followed up with a sacrifice ground ball to drive him in as the score was even at 1-1 after three innings.

The fourth inning was when the Tigers created the first lead of the game. The Tigers loaded up the bases after already scoring once this inning. Chase Partain quickly unloaded on the ball and unloaded the bases with it, launching a long home run to left. The Tigers went up 6-1 in the top of the fifth inning.

In the top of the sixth the Tigers found two more runs. This time like the last was off bases loaded and the Tigers finding ways to dink in runs. Ethan Dunn knocked in the first run and the next run was walked in. Silsbee went up 8-1 in the top of the sixth.

In the bottom of the sixth the Cardinals load up the bases, but are unable to score any runs as pitcher Sundgren continued to throw a great game.

In the top of the seventh the Tigers tacked on one more run just for insurance from Partain as he added another RBI to give him five for the night.

The Cardinals look to get back on the winning side Friday in LC-M against the Bears while the Tigers return home to host Orangefield