BURTON PANTHERS SWEEP EVADALE TO CLAIM BI-DISTRICT CHAMPIONSHIP
The Burton Panther Baseball Team punched their ticket to the Area Round of the playoffs with a 7-4 win over the Evadale Rebels yesterday (Saturday) in New Caney. The win completed their sweep of the series 2-0 after Burton had also won Thursday night 8-0.
Ryder Biggs got the Panthers started in the bottom of the first inning by beating out an infield hit, and then he advanced to second when the Rebels' shortstop Brett Buckner overthrew first base. Eli Jaeger brought him home later in the frame on an RBI single to give Burton the early 1-0 lead.
Evadale managed to manufacture three runs in the bottom of the second inning off of three walks, two fielders' choices, and a head scratching call by the umpires on a rundown play to take a 3-1 lead.
Not liking what he was seeing, Burton Head Coach Matt Thaler gathered his team together in between innings for a pep talk, and got them back on the same page.
In the top of third, Tyler Witt slammed a double to left field. Biggs reached on another Rebel throwing error, which allowed Witt to come around and score. That cut the lead to 3-2. Braydon Martin followed with an opposite field triple down the right field line to score Biggs with the tying run, and make it 3-3. Martin would also score in the inning off of an RBI groundout by Rueben Rodriguez to give Burton the lead once again 4-3.
That last until the bottom of the fourth inning when Buckner singled, and came around to score on an RBI groundout by Evadale DH Ty Muirhied, which tied it at 4-4.
The Panthers regained the lead with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth inning. Coy Gurka reached on an error, Witt singled, and Biggs walked to load the bases. Martin and Rodriguez drew back-to-back bases loaded walks, and Burton was back in front 6-4.
The Panthers added one more insurance run in the top of the seventh. Archer Fuller was hit by a pitch, and later took second base on a walk to Coy Gurka. Fuller would later come around to score following a pair of wild pitches to give Burton the lead. 7-4.
Jaeger got the start and the win after he went the distance. He threw 103 pitches in the game. After struggling a little bit early, he settled in, and went on to retire the last 11 batters in a row.
With the win, the Panthers are now 23-3 on the season. Next up, they will face the winner of the Bartlett-Harper series. The series is tied 1-1. Harper won the first game 11-3, but Bartlett came back to win the second game 8-3. They will play their deciding game on Monday night.
HITTING
Tyler Witt 2-4 single, double, walk, two runs
Eli Jaeger 2-3 two singles, walk, RBI
Ryder Biggs 1-3 single, two walks, two runs
Braydon Martin 1-3 triple, two walks, run, two RBIs
PITCHING
WP Eli Jaeger 7 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 7 K