By Caleb Adams

Leader Correspondent

 

PORT NECHES—The Bridge City Cardinals fell short against the Sweeny Bulldogs 8-1 in game two of the area round of the Class 4A playoffs Saturday at PN-G High School as Sweeny will now advance to the Region III quarterfinals.

The Cardinals (20-11-2) lost the series 2-0 to Sweeny (24-7) after a tough 2-1 game one loss Friday and to the offensive display by last year’s state finalist Bulldogs on Saturday.

The Bulldogs offensive was explosive, complete opposite of game one. The entire lineup found hits at some point during the game. Most of the production came in the second and fourth innings, where all of their runs came from. Their ability to string hits together and take advantage of Cardinal errors early was key. The Cardinals found just as many hits but were only able to convert one run from the seven hits.

Bridge City opened the scoring with two hits in the bottom of the first. Tanner Wilson hit a single up the middle to bring up Peyton Havard. Havard sent one deep to center for a double, and the speedy Wilson was able to score all the way from first base. That’s all the Cardinals would find, but they took an early 1-0 lead after the first inning.

Sweeny took advantage of back to back errors from Bridge City to score. Quinton Martin and Nathan Nance led off with singles back to back. Braden Norris would reach after an error to load the bases. Noah Pate hit a grounder and Bridge City bobbled the play and Martin scored from third base. The scoring continued with a single from Cord Phillips, scoring Nance from third.

The Bulldogs continued the big inning with even more singles. Joe Effenberger would follow up with the fourth single of the inning, scoring Norris from third base. Caden Homniok kept the train rolling with a fifth single to score Pate from third and keep the bases loaded. Bridge City got a crucial bases-loaded double play to get out of even more damage as the Bulldogs took a 4-1 lead in the second inning.

Sweeny brought more home in the top of the fourth. Norris led off with a walk and followed up by a double from Pate to put runners on second and third base. Effenberger single to bring in Norris from third and that brought up Homniok with two runners on first and second. Homniok sent one deep for a double to bring in both Norris and Effenberger. That’s all they would find but the Bulldogs took a staggering 7-1 lead over the Cardinals.

Sweeny added another run in the top of the seventh. Norris reached after another Cardinal error. Pate would single and Norris made his way all the home on the play as the Bulldogs went up 8-1 heading into the final frame of play.

Bridge City fell short against a very loaded Sweeny team in the second round. The Bulldogs were able to keep the Cardinals to just one run from the first inning, clamping down after that. The Bulldogs will look to get to the state finals again just like last season. The Cardinals great season came to an end, but they do have a lot to build on and look forward to the upcoming season with plenty of their core talent returning.