By Caleb Adams

Leader Correspondent

 

NEDERLAND — A superb Bridge City baseball season came to an end as the Cardinals were eliminated by the Jasper Bulldogs 9-3 in Game Two of their Class 4A Region III regional quarterfinals of the Texas 4A playoffs at Nederland High School Friday night.

With the Cardinals (25-9-1) falling late in Game One, Game Two became a must-win scenario, with their season riding on Friday night’s competition.

Jasper’s ability to hit was the reason they won this game. With multiple players having more than one hit, it made the game easy for the Bulldogs (29-5-1). Henry McMillion was the stud for the Bulldogs with three hits including a triple in the fifth inning.

With each inning, no matter who pitched for the Cardinals, the Bulldogs just had their sticks on Friday night. With 12 hits as a team it’s hard to lose, including a solid outing from pitcher Ben Jeansonne. Jeansonne went six innings with four walks, six strikeouts, allowing four hits and three runs given up.

The Cardinals utilized four different pitchers in Jacob Goodman, Justyn Romero, Logan Hamm and Caleb DuBois.

Bridge City’s first run came off a massive hit to lead off the first inning, from Logan Hamm. Hamm hit a long double to left field, Schuyler Thibodaux bunted him to third and Caleb Dubois brought him home with an infield hit. Just like the first game, the Cardinals took an early 1-0 lead after an inning of play.

The Bulldogs fired back with a two-out run in the top of the second inning. Victor Williams Jr. hit a hard single to right-center to drive in Colton Womack from third, who reached on a single of his own. Womack got thrown out at second base on the play, but the run score to tie the game up in the top of the second.

Leo Escalante hit the next Bulldog run in with a dinker to left field. The Bulldogs Micheal Soisson scored on the Escalante single from second base. Henry McMillion reached on a single to load up the bases. Trent Bryant would take advantage with a single to bring in two more runs in Charles Burnett and Leontay Sells as the Bulldogs extended their lead to 4-1 after the top of the fourth.

Kept the momentum going, as they scored another run in the top of the fifth inning. Charles Burnett knocksed in McMillion, who lead off with a triple to deep right field, with a solid line drive to shallow right. That’s all they would get, but that run made it 5-1 in the middle of the fifth, each out drawing the Bulldogs closer to clinching a sweep.

Bridge City got one back in the bottom of the fifth, thanks to a few hits strung together. Cameron Yadon, who had two hits, led off the inning with a hard double. Hamm came up with a single and Thibodaux knocked in Yadon from third on a fielder’s choice. That’s all they could grab as the Cardinals still trailed 5-2 heading to the sixth.

Jasper’s hit train doesn’t stop, as they continued to extend their lead late into the game. McMillion struck again with an RBI, bringing in Micheal Soisson from third. The next batter, Womack, hit a long triple to bring in two runs and made it a six-run game late.

Bridge City didn’t go quietly as they scored more in the bottom of the sixth. Luc Hollier reached base on an error, and given a free base on the bad throw. Slade Foreman moved him to third and a wild pitch brought in Hollier for Bridge City’s third run.

Jasper scores another run off a sac fly in the top of the seventh. Reese Durand with a long fly to right field brought in Williams Jr. from third, who tagged up on the play, for the Bulldogs ninth run of the game.

The Cardinals fell short after another tremendous season.. In reality it was a good run, they were the final Orange County baseball team left standing and fell to a really good Jasper team.

The Bulldogs will move on to face Waco Robinson in the 4A Region III semifinals.