Errors Plague Sandies in District Opener
Grapeland Falls to Centerville, 11-3
By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter
GRAPELAND – With the sting of a loss in the UIL State Basketball Finals still fresh, the Grapeland Sandies turned their attention to another sport as the Sandies opened district play in District 21-2A baseball on Tuesday of last week.
The Sandies opened their baseball season with a 17-1 win over the Apple Springs Eagles and followed up with an 8-4 win over the Martinsville Pirates.
A second win over Apple Springs sent Grapeland to a 3-0 start on the young season when they hit the road to Leon County for a clash with the Centerville Tigers in the district opener.
While the Sandies hung tough against the Tigers, a big third inning from Centerville and a slew of errors from Grapeland did in the boys in maroon and white as they fell to the Tigers by a score of 11-3.
Jason Hill was on the mound for the Tigers to start the game and worked a one, two, three first inning as he got Cameron Navarette to fly out to center, struck out Jayce Elliot and then forced Cole Goolsby to ground out to end the top half of the first.
Cooper Sheridan got the nod for the Sandies and ran into trouble before he could get the first out. A pair of four-pitch walks set the table for Hill who doubled in Kasen Jeitz and Dillon Denman to make the score 2-0 in favor of the Tigers.
After the two-bagger, Sheridan settled down to get James Bodine to ground into a 4-5 force at third base. A single from Cameron Pate went for naught as Sheridan got of the inning on a groundout from Jack Neubauer and a strikeout of Halston French.
Grapeland cut the lead in half in the top of the second. Sheridan was hit by a pitch to lead things off and moved to second on a Jason DeCluette groundout. Jacob Vaden advanced Sheridan to third with a bunt.
On the play, the Tigers committed an error at third which allowed Sheridan to trot home and cut the score to 2-1. That was all the Sandies could muster, however, as Vaden was thrown out at second and Peyton Prater fanned to end the Grapeland half of the frame.
The Tigers got the run back in their half of the second to go up 3-1. Sheridan struck out Brant Roberts to lead off the inning, but an error at third allowed the next batter, Fisher, to reach the bag at first. Jeitz grounded into a force at first but advanced the runner. Denman was plunked by a Sheridan pitch and a second error in the inning allowed Fisher to score from third. Sheridan, however, regained his composure and struck out Bodine to end the second.
Hill struck out the side in the top of the third and then the wheels fell off the wagon for the Sandies. The Tigers scored four runs before the first out was recorded in the bottom of the inning.
Elliott replaced Sheridan on the mound but gave up two more runs before he caught Pate swinging on a pitch out of the zone to end the inning with the Tigers up 9-1.
Grapeland clawed back a run in the top of the fourth when Goolsby scored on a wild pitch but that was as close as the Sandies would get as Centerville put up two more runs in the fifth and then held on to take down Grapeland by a final score of 11-3.
Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].
