Senior second baseman Holland Page’s hard hit ball to third base earned an infield hit and brought home sophomore right fielder Lane Johnson to give the Chaps a 1-0 in the bottom of the second.
From there, numerous Chaps entered the tunnel of teammates into the dugout as Westlake (3-0) sailed to a 11-5 victory over Rudder (4-1-1). Both senior shortstop Luke Nogalski and junior third baseman Austin Knox would bring two runners home, going two-for-three and three-for-four respectively. The Chaps capitalized with runners on base, bringing in 11 of their 13 hits in for runs.
“Our guys do a really good job of hitting with runners in scoring position,” head baseball head coach J.T. Blair said. “Tonight we did a great job of timely hitting with two strikes and two outs and that’s what you need in games like this one.”
The offense started early for the Chaps as they picked up four runs in the second inning with hits from Page, Nogalski and a sacrifice fly from senior catcher Hudson Byrd. With two outs, Knox brought another runner home.
“I’m just trying to stay up the middle,” Knox said. “And try to keep my swing as simple as possible.”
Another explosion of runs from Westlake in the fourth inning put the Chaps up 9-0 and let junior pitcher Parker Saltsman take the rest of the night off.
Saltsman recorded the win on four innings of work. He gave up two hits, allowing no runs and struck out five. He tossed 33 strikes on 52 pitches.
“Our guys are going to throw strikes and they’re gonna give us a chance to stay in the game, and that’s exactly what they did tonight.” Blair said. “They gave our defense a chance to make some plays, and luckily, we made a lot of good plays in that game.”
The Rangers offense tacked some infield hits in the top of the sixth inning onto senior pitcher Cooper Saikin that scored five. However, senior right fielder Evan Lung came in to pitch in the seventh and allowed no runs to close out the game..
Lung, Johnson and senior designated hitter Quinton Moran each stole a bag to supplement the string of hits that the Chap offense put together.
”We’re gonna move the runners, and we’re gonna make something happen offensively,” Blair said. “And I think you saw us do that tonight.”
The high-powered Chap offense now enters tournament play for the second time this year facing Burleson Centennial, Lake Belton and Stony Point in the Round Rock tournament at Stony Point High School Thursday.
