Ackley, Driskell No-Hit North Zulch in 10-0 win

Sandies Open New Field in Dominant Fashion

By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter

GRAPELAND – The Grapeland Sandies opened their new baseball field against the North Zulch Bulldogs on Friday, March 23 and what a grand opening it was!

The Sandies scored five runs in both the fourth and fifth innings to end the game early with a 10-0 score, but the real story was the pitching of Josh Ackley with a dash of Austin Driskell thrown in for good measure.

Cooper Sheridan

Ackley pitched 4.2 innings of no-hit ball before he was relived due to a high pitch count (UIL mandate) and Driskell came in to record the final out as the two pitchers combined on a no-hitter in the first game ever played at Sandie Field.

North Zulch’s JP O’Neal was the first batter to face Ackley and struck out swinging on a fastball upstairs. The next two batters Ackley faced – Michael Harris and Kaleb Holder – drew a pair of walks off of Grapeland’s ace to give the Bulldogs runners at first and second with only one out.

Tyler Wallace followed Holder in the batting order and battled through nine pitches before Ackley caught him looking at pitch number 10 for his second K of the inning.

After Wallace struck out looking, Stephen Harris followed suit as he was also caught looking at strike three.

M. Harris was on the mound for North Zulch and was just as effective as Ackley to open the game. He caught Austin Driskell looking at a called third strike and then coaxed Case Boyd to ground into a 6-3 force. Ackley was up next and drew a walk off of Harris. He then stole second but when he attempted steal third, he was thrown out.

Blake Howard

As the game moved into the second inning, both Ackley and Harris put on a pitching display. Ackley witnessed all three batters he faced in the top half of the second – Blake Housley, Aaron Ringer and Holden Green – watch as strike three settled into the glove of Sandie catcher Cooper Sheridan.

M. Harris was just as efficient as the North Zulch pitcher recorded swinging strikeouts from Ethan Peterson, Blake Howard and Dylan Duhon to send the game into the third inning with the score tied, 0-0.

Tyler Holden led off the top of the frame for North Zulch and became the sixth consecutive Bulldog to strike out looking. The next batter Ackley faced was O’Neal and on a 2-1 pitch, O’Neal became the first player on either team to hit the ball out of the infield.

While it sounded good coming off the bat, it fell right into the glove of Grapeland right-fielder Camarron Nixon for the second out of the inning. Harris followed O’Neal in the order and promptly struck out to retire the side.

Grapeland continued to struggle at the plate as Harris repeatedly handcuffed the Sandies. Grapeland did, however, begin to show some signs of life as they started to make contact off of Harris.

Sheridan grounded into a 6-3 force, Mixon hit a rocket to first for the second out and BJ Howard was called out at first on a bang-bang play when he tried to bunt his way on.

However, after three complete innings, neither team had recorded a hit and there had only been three base runners – all from walks.

As the fourth inning got underway, Ackley continued his mastery of the Bulldog

Case Boyd

batters. He struck out O’Neal and Wallace and then got M. Harris to hit into a 6-3 inning ending force.

When the Sandies came to bat in the bottom of the fourth, the wheels fell off the North Zulch team. Driskell led off with a single and moved to second when Boyd’s pop-up was misplayed in right field. Ackley was up next and slapped a double into the gap to plate Driskell with the game’s first run.

Peterson followed Ackley in the batting order and lined a single up the middle to drive in both Boyd and Ackley. With a runner at first and no outs, Howard attempted to bunt Peterson into scoring position. Unfortunately, he popped up the bunt to M. Harris who fielded the ball in mid-flight and turned and threw to Wallace at first to double up Peterson.

Duhon followed Howard and drove a pitch into deep right that was misplayed once again. He reached third on the play and game around to score when M. Harris uncorked a wild pitch.

The Sandies tacked on another run after Sheridan walked and crossed the plate on the Bulldogs’ third error of the inning.

Once M. Harris finally recorded the third out, Ackley went back out to the mound for Grapeland. He struck out Housley and Ringer for his 11th and 12th strikeouts of the game but because of the UIL pitch count rule, Ackley was lifted after he struck out Ringer.

Driskell came on in relief and immediately walked Holden Green. After that, he settled down and struck out Tyler Holder to retire th

Ethan Peterson

e side and send the game into the bottom of fifth.

Driskell also led off the frame for Grapeland and reached on a single, stole second and moved to third when Boyd hit into a fielder’s choice. Ackley drew a walk and took second on an uncontested steal.

Peterson followed with a drive to right that got past the right-fielder and rolled to the wall. Both Driskell and Ackley scored, while Peterson held up at second. Howard was up next and singled to move Peterson to third. Following the hit, Howard moved to second on an uncontested play.

A walk to Duhon loaded the bases while a passed ball brought in Peterson from third to make the score 8-0. On the play, both Howard and Driskell moved up a base. Sheridan was up next and drilled a double into center to plate the two base runners and end the game with the score 10-0.

Ackley picked up the win for the Sandies with 4.2 innings of no-hit pitching. He walked two and struck out 12 on the night. Driskell pitched one third of an inning and walked one and struck out one.

M. Harris took the loss in 4.1 innings of work. He gave up 10 runs on eight hits, struck out six and walked three.

Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].

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