Two straight Bowie singles that put runners on second and third threatened the one-run lead senior pitcher Hayes Brodhead entered the top of the seventh with.
The Bulldogs called for a suicide squeeze bunt, where the runner from third takes off with the assumption that the bunt will be put in play. Yet the batter whiffed and with the runner far off the bag, sophomore catcher Mateo Rincon back-picked him for the second out of the inning. A Brodhead strikeout soon ended the game.
The Chaps (12-15, 5-1 District 26-6A) took down the Bowie Bulldogs (16-7-1, 4-4 26-6A) 2-1, Wednesday night at Woerner Field. Brodhead went all seven innings while earning 10 strikeouts and allowing one earned run and one walk.
Of the 27 batters he faced, 10 of them struck out, resulting in a lot of balls in play for the defense to handle. Despite two errors, the Chaps provided enough support for Brodhead.
“It’s always attacking,” Brodhead said. “Just having the mentality that whatever I throw, they’re not gonna be able to touch and I trust the guys behind me. We made plays and won the game.”
After a Bulldogs walkoff in extra-innings to take the first game of the series, 3-2, the Chaps came out motivated to win the second game according to head coach Danny Wallace.
“I think you could see it tonight,” Wallace said. “We played really hard … and got some things going right away.”
A run came across the plate in each of the first two innings. One of those two runs came in the bottom of the second from Rincon who singled with the bases loaded to bring in freshman third baseman Ripken Street.
“[I was thinking] just hunting first pitch fastball,” Rincon said. “Try to do it for my team, not myself, team at-bats. That’s how you win games.”
Rincon also had a triple in the first game of the series against the Bulldogs.
The Chaps had numerous opportunities to extend the lead even further. Wallace said that with a couple of key hits with the bases loaded, “it’s not even a close ballgame.”
With the lead, Brodhead got into situations with Bowie runners in scoring position who threatened the tide of the game.
“I didn’t let it affect me,” Broadhead said. “Just kind of tried to keep my cool a little bit, just threw the pitches I could get over [the plate].”
On the other side of home plate was Brodhead’s battery mate, Rincon, who came up with crucial plays both catching and batting.
“He’s a freaking dog back there,” Brodhead said. “Whenever I’m doing something wrong, he immediately tells me, he picks me up. Whenever he’s doing something wrong back there, I pick him up and it’s a great bond.”
In those tough moments with the pressure on, Rincon said that he’s got “full trust in [Brodhead] that he’s going to throw the pitch I need and exactly in that spot” while adding that if he doesn’t, “I’m ready to block it for him.”
Brodhead got out of straining positions again and again while only giving up one run the entire game, which Wallace put down to Brodhead’s experience.
“Its something he embraces,” Wallace said. “He didn’t really want to come out and we didn’t really want to bring him out. … So it was kind of like we’re going to ride him as long as we could. [We] might have left him out there a little too long, but he came through.”
With the weekend break over Easter, the Chaps will prepare for their next series against Lake Travis in the Battle of the Lakes. The Cavaliers feature senior pitcher and Texas commit, Cooper Webb, who Wallace called “one of the elite arms in the entire county.” The last time Westlake and Lake Travis faced off, Webb no-hit the Chaps for the win in the first game of the series.
“A little bit of rest [this weekend]” Rincon said. “But we still have to get back to work. Job’s not finished. [If] you want that state championship and that’s what you got to do.”
