Last Tuesday, April 17, San Saba hosted the Hamilton Bulldogs. The game started out innocently enough as the Dillos recorded three outs and proceeded to bat in the bottom of the first Zack Davis and Clayton Perry walked and Luke Cox singled in Davis, moving Perry to second. Pannell singled in Perry to put the Dillos up 2-0 after one inning.

Pannell went back to work on the mound by getting a quick ground out and a strike out. Then, a walk, a hit batter, and another walk loaded the bases full of Bulldogs. A fly ball to Kelan Verette ended the inning with no damage done. As we batted in the bottom half, Verette singled, the pitch hit Tanner Weyerts, and Russell Lowe got hit by a pitch to load the bases. Perry earned an RBI by also getting hit by a pitch to force in Verette. Cox singled in Weyerts, and Pannell walked in Lowe. Wil Sloan put a ball in play to shortstop that could not be handled, letting Perry score. Now the Dillos had a big 7-0 lead.

However, the Bulldogs were not done. Hamilton scored one in the third and held the Dillos scoreless that inning. Then they scored two more in the fourth, chasing Pannell from the mound and bringing in Zack Davis. Again, they held the Dillos to zero. They added one more in the fifth bringing the score to 7-4. During our at bat, Lowe doubled and Davis walked. Perry got two more RBI’s to add a little more cushion by hitting a two run double to the centerfield fence.

Then in the sixth inning, Hamilton produced a seven run rally. As the Bulldogs were tying the game at nine, we brought in Clayton Perry to try to throw off the Hamilton batters. By the time the dust settled, San Saba was behind 11-9 with an inning and a half to go. The inning led off with a hard single to short by Pannell. Then Issac Jimenez hit a double to right to score Pannell. Sloan walked and Verette got hit by a pitch to load the bases. Ryan Guidroz pinch ran for Sloan, as the go ahead run for the game. Next were Josh Wright and Russell Lowe behind him. The Bulldogs were struggling to find pitching to throw strikes and get outs. Wright and Lowe both walked, forcing in the tying and go-ahead runs. Eventually, the starting pitcher for Hamilton would return to try and improve the pitching effectiveness. San Saba continued to rally however. Verette scored on a wild pitch and Davis hit a two run double and Perry did likewise. Perry scored the eighth run of the inning as Pannell hit into a double play and the third out was made later.

Hamilton came back during their last at bat by getting two runners on. Eventually Perry and the Dillo defense got the three necessary outs to end the game. The Dillos won a wild one 11-17.

Then on Friday, April 20, San Saba travelled to Coleman to take on the Bluecats. In extremely windy conditions, San Saba did not score in the first, but Coleman was putting the ball in play off of Ryan Guidroz to get two runs in the first. The Dillos got one back in the next inning. Pannell walked and a pitch hit Verette. An error allowed Pannell to advance to third. JT Mathis hit a sacrifice fly ball to center to let Pannell to tag up and score, sending Verette to second after the throw.

A couple of walks and some wild pitches allowed another Coleman run to score. Then the Dillos took advantage of Bluecat errors to plate four more runs in the third. Coleman added one more earned run in the bottom of the third for their final run of the day. San Saba continued to add runs with four more in the top of the fourth, all with two out. Lowe singled, Davis singled, Perry doubled both of them in, Cox doubled in Perry, and an error on Pannell’s hit allowed Josh Wright to score (running for Cox).

In the sixth, the Dillos would strike for four more. Singles by Perry and Cox (Wright running) and a double by Pannell would bring in the first two. Pannell would end up scoring on an error at third, Tanner Hawkins walked, and Tanner Weyerts doubled in Hawkins to finish the scoring on the day. San Saba won the game 13-4 in a tough Coleman environment, yet again.

These two wins bring the Armadillo record to 17-5 on the year and 10-3 in district, clinching second place and advancing us to the playoffs for the fifth year in a row!!! We will have playoff information and a wrap up from our last regular season game with Hico next time, as we were currently playing that game at the post time for this press release. We have had a fun and great regular season. We appreciate all of the support and interest shown by all. We look forward to even more support and seeing all of you as we begin our third season…the Playoff Season! Go Dillos!!!