By Caleb Adams

Leader Correspondent

 

BRIDGE CITY —The Bridge City Cardinals toppled the West Orange-Stark Mustangs 9-6 at Chuck Young Stadium in Bridge City, in what was a back and forth game till the end to wrap up the regular District 22-4A season.

Despite the loss, the Mustangs (4-16-1, 1-11) hit well on the night. They led the Cardinals (17-9-2, 8-4) at every point in hits until the final inning. The main and most important difference was the error column, the Mustangs had five and the Cardinals only had one. The Mustangs errors would result in four runs. Bridge City’s ability to take advantage of the West Orange mistakes was key to their win.

Bridge City’s ability to move runners and take advantage of mistakes by the Mustangs really propelled the team to the win. Taking an extra base or getting a free run or two, any defense will take that any day of the week.

The Mustangs crossed the plate first, in the top of the first inning. Jacob Dominguez would take a ball to the back get pushed to second after a single from Will Robles and advanced to third base after a wild pitch. Justin Veitch hit a hard grounder to the right side scoring Dominguez from third base. That wouldn’t be all for the inning, Jerren Terrell bunted to the right side to score Robles from third base as the Mustangs led 2-0 after the top of the first.

Robles hits his second single in as many innings for more Mustangs offense. Brennan Gamble drew a walk and got pushed to second after a sacrifice hit. Dominguez knocked a single to push Gamble to third, and Robles follows up with another hit to score Gamble from third base. That’s all the Mustangs would find, as they lead 3-0 after the top of the second inning.

The Cardinals found their first run in the bottom of the second inning. Jackson Tims led off and out ran an infield hit that was bobbled, and a wild pitch sent Tims to second base. Cameron Yadon and Trevor Kimball would reach on walks. Cace Skinner brought in a run with an infield single to drive in Tims. The next batter, Logan Hamm, would send one flying to right center field to score three runs in Yadon, Skinner and Hamm with a big homer. The Cardinals popped for four runs and take the lead at 4-3 after two innings.

Bridge City increased its lead in the bottom of the fourth inning. With two outs Hamm drew a walk to bring up Tanner Wilson. Hamm would steal as Wilson hit a grounder to third, after a bad throw Hamm scores and Wilson found himself on third base. After another error, this time on a Peyton Havard grounder, Wilson scored from third. That’s all for the fourth inning with the Cardinals leading 6-3 heading to the fifth inning.

The Mustangs weren’t done hitting as Jerren Terrell hit a rope to center. Robles would draw a lead off walk, followed by a Veitch single. Terrell smoked one past the pitcher to score Robles from second base. The rally continued after a Cardinal error, as both Veitch and Terrell scored from second and third base to tie up the game. The Mustangs came back to make it a whole new game, tied 6-6 heading to the bottom of the fifth.

The Cardinals regained the lead back for good in the bottom of the fifth. Sam Carpenter led off with a walk and advanced to third after an error, hit by Tims and a bunt single from Cameron Yadon. Slade Foreman lined one to deep left center, deep enough to score Carpenter from third base on a tag fly. The Cardinals would load the bases after Jaxon Bernard reached on an error, putting Tims and Yadon into scoring position. Skinner would hit a grounder to shortstop, giving enough time for Tims to come in from third base. After five complete the Cardinals retook the lead at 8-6 over the Mustangs.

Carpenter brought in a late insurance run. Wilson led off with a single and swiped second base to put him in scoring position. After a grounder got him to third, a Carpenter shot to left field for the final run..

With this win the Cardinals put a bow on their regular season and can now look fully to the playoffs coming next week.