Sandies Fade Late in 15-4 Loss
By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter
GRAPELAND – In baseball, some days you have it and some days you don’t. Such was the case for the Grapeland Sandies on St. Patrick’s Day where the luck of the Irish favored the Centerville Tigers as they blasted the Sandies by a score of 15-4.
Grapeland was coming off of a pair of come-from-behind wins to open play in District 21-2A as they had taken down the Lovelady Lions 8-6 and the Leon Cougars 4-3.
Thursday was a different story, however, as the Sandies fell behind early on and then could never quite catch up to the Tigers.
Centerville jumped ahead 3-0 in the first inning on an infield hit, a hit batsman, a pair of passed balls, an error and two singles.
The Sandies scratched out a run in the bottom of the first as Slade Harris led off with a walk. Payton Prater followed with a single into right which moved Harris to third. Cole Goolsby followed with a base knock to drive in Harris and move Prater to third.
That was all the Sandies could muster, however, and when the Tigers came into bat in the top of the second, they got the run back on an infield error to make the score 4-1. Another infield error in the top of the third helped pushed the Centerville lead out to 5-1.
Grapeland wasn’t about to roll over for the visiting Tigers as the Sandies plated two runs in the bottom half of the third. After Rickie Gilmore fanned to open the inning, Harris singled to right. Prater followed with a line shot between first and second which moved Harris to third. On the throw in from the outfield, Prater took second.
Goolsby followed in the batting order and on a 1-2 pitch, he roped a double into the right field gap which drove in Harris, along with Prater to make the score 5-3.
Unfortunately, that was as close as the Sandies would get. The Tigers added a run to their lead in the top of the fourth and six more in the top of the sixth to make the score 12-3. A three-run seventh for Centerville didn’t help matters, either.
Grapeland scored a run in the bottom of the seventh, but it was too little too late as the Sandies fell by a final score of 15-4.
Goolsby was saddled with the loss after he went three innings and gave up five runs (only two earned) on five hits. He also struck out four.
Centerville’s Kasen Jeitz picked up the win in three innings of work. He gave up three runs on five hits, struck out three and walked one.
At the plate, the Sandies were led by Prater who was 2-3 with two runs scored while Goolsby was also 2-3 with three RBI.
The Tigers were led by Cameron Pate who was 3-5 with three RBI and two runs scored. Jake Pineda was 2-5 with four RBI and one run scored.
Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].