Back on Monday, April 11, the varsity baseball team hosted the Dublin Lions for game ten of district play. The Armadillos made quick work of the Lions by jumping out to an early lead. Great pitching and dependable defense made sure that the Dublin offense never got on a roll.

The game opened with sophomore pitcher Ryan Guidroz on the mound. He sat down the first three batters of the game in order: 1,2,3. In the bottom of the first, the Dillos sent eleven men to the plate and scored six runs. Zack Davis walked, Luke Cox got on by error, Davis scored on a wild pitch, Ryan Pannell doubled in Cox, Cody Herd singled in Pannell, Tucker Cromer got on by error, and Tanner Weyerts took a walk. Our seventh batter was the first out of the inning on a pop up. Kobe Cisneroz then singled to left field and scored Herd. A strikeout made two outs, a single by Davis scored Cromer and Weyerts, and a ground out ended our first inning.

Guidroz continued through the next four innings just like he did in the first. It took only eight pitches for three ground ball outs in the second. The third was a fly ball caught by Kobe Cisneroz in right field and two strikeouts. In the fourth, the leadoff batter struck out, a bunt attempt fielded by Guidroz and thrown out at first made two outs. The third batter lifted a pop fly that was mishandled by the shortstop thus preventing the perfect game. The very next batter grounded to Pannell at first that flipped to Guidroz covering to get out of the inning. With a 10-0 lead on the scoreboard, Guidroz went through the fifth with a strikeout, a walk, a ground ball to Josh Wright at second who threw to first for out 2, and ended the game with a strikeout and completed a no-hitter. What an outstanding performance! This was a very similar outing that Cody Herd had against the same team when we played them at their place earlier this year.

Offensive standouts were: Ryan Pannell who went 2 for 3, with 2 doubles and 3 RBI’s, Zack Davis was 1 for 1, scored twice with 2 RBI’s, Kobe Cisneroz went 1 for 2 and an RBI, and Luke Cox went 1 for 2 and scored twice.

The week ended with a match-up with the first place Bangs Dragons for the second time this year. We knew we had a tall task, being two games behind them in the standings, and also knowing they would have their best pitcher on the mound, Doug Drury. We also sent one of our best pitchers to the bump, Cody Herd, and decided to let the chips fall where they may.

Herd pitched rather effectively to a very good hitting lineup. He allowed two runs in the first and two more runs in the second and controlled the damage to prevent it from being worse than that. However, three of the runs were actually unearned due to some defensive miscues. Herd continued all the way to the sixth inning, and had two outs there before being lifted. He allowed twelve hits, ten total runs, only four being deserving, walked two, hit two, and struck out one. Clayton Perry came in and struck out one batter to finish the sixth and would not need to return. Herd’s record for the year is 6-3 and 4-1 in district games.

Offensively, we did pretty well, considering whom the hurler was. Our first inning got sat down in order and our sixth overall batter, designated hitter Tanner Weyerts, in the second inning was the first to reach base with a single to left field. Behind him was a pop out to end the inning. In the third inning, Kobe Cisneroz doubled to left. But, two strikeouts and a ground out ended that inning as well. Finally, in the fourth inning, Ryan Pannell started a rally with a single, Cody Herd followed with a single, and Tucker Cromer took a hard outside fastball "oppo" for a three run home run over the right field wall. This was the first home run knocked off of Drury all year long. After the homer, two strike outs, a hit batter, and a throw out at second on a steal quickly ended the inning. We scored two more runs in the top of the fifth when Zack Davis struck out, but got on base when the catcher mishandled the pitch. Luke Cox had a single to advance Davis, Ryan Pannell hit a single to right field to score Davis, and after a strike out, Tucker Cromer had a single to score Cox. A ground out ended our inning and our scoring for the night. Bangs won the contest 10-5.

Offensive players of the game were: Tucker Cromer who went 2 for 4 with a home run, 4 RBI’s, and a run scored, and Ryan Pannell who also went 2 for 4 with one RBI, and scored a run. This performance has now brought Pannell up to a .410 batting average and 16 RBI’s in district, a .424 average and 25 RBI’s overall on the year. Tucker Cromer is one of the team leaders in RBI’s with 15 in district and 19 on the year. Our overall offensive team leader with more than 20 district at bats would be Zack Davis: leading in average with .606 and on base percentage with .717, he also has 19 runs, 20 hits, and 13 walks and leads those categories as well. We currently sit in second place three games behind Bangs and only one game ahead of Early. Our district record is 8-3 and 12-7-1 overall. Our next games will be at home against Coleman on Friday at 7:00, and at home again on next Friday, April 29, against Hico at 7:00 (because of TAKS testing). These are our last two district games and we look forward to seeing you all as we finish up and push our way into the playoffs.