Tigers Drop Game Two in Regional Finals
Kennard Falls to Union Hill 5-4
By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter
KILGORE – It would be hard to top what the Kennard Tigers did against the Union Hill Bulldogs on Thursday of last week as Kennard’s Dylan Cole threw a perfect game as the Tigers won Game one of the Regional Finals by a score of 10-0.
Kennard came back to earth in Game Two of the best-of three series, however. While the first game was all Tigers, the second matchup of the series saw the two teams battle back-and-forth throughout.
The game was scoreless until the top of the fourth when Kennard scratched out a run. Union Hill came back to tie things up in the bottom of the inning and then dropped a three-spot on the Tigers in the fifth.
Not to be outdone, the Tigers retied the game in the top of the sixth with three of their own, only to see the Bulldogs eek out a run in their final at-bat to win the game 5-4.
Jaden Kulms led off the game for the Tigers and popped out to Bulldogs’ starting pitcher Matthew Massingill. Elijah Dowdy followed with a fly ball that was mishandled in the outfield and turned an out into a double.
Massingill, however, shrugged off the error as he got Keyton Lumbreraz and Dylan Cole to pop up to end the top half of the inning.
Kulms was on the mound for Kennard. He retired the first two batters he faced, Logan Dunn and Saige Hendrix, but walked the next two Union Hill batters, Massingill and Daniel Dunn. Just like Massingill earlier in the inning, Kulms shrugged it off and got Carlos Mendoza to line back to the bump for the third out.
The Tigers threatened in the second but couldn’t close the deal. Ryan Pilkington lined out to right to open the frame but Caleb Alfred reached safely when he hit a shot to third that was booted for an error. Alfred made it to second on the error and moved to third when Adrian Montero sacrificed. That was as far as he would get, however, as Nick Framer fanned to send Kennard back out to the field.
The second inning belonged to Kulms as he got Eli Mendoza to ground out, struck out Caleb Simmons and then got Devin Espinoza to tap back to the mound to end the inning.
A quiet third gave way to the fourth as the Tigers broke the scoring drought. Lumbreraz led off with a tap back to the mound but Cole followed with a single to left. With Pilkington at the plate, Cole swiped second and third. An error on a pick-off play allowed Cole to trot home and make the score 1-0 in favor of the Tigers.
That was all Kennard would get in their half of the inning and when Union Hill came in to bat, the Bulldogs threatened to blow the game wide open. C. Mendoza reached first on a dropped third strike while both E. Mendoza and Simmons walked to load the bases with nobody out.
Kulms, however, dug deep and caught Espinoza looking at strike three. A passed ball allowed C. Mendoza to trot home but strike outs of M. Clark and L. Dunn limited the damage and kept the game tied at one.
After the Tigers failed to do anything in the top of the fifth, the Bulldogs plated three in their half of the fifth. Kennard answered back in the top of the sixth with three of their own to tie the game at four, but a walk-off sacrifice from D. Dunn in the bottom of the seventh would allow Union Hill to sneak out of Kilgore with the 5-4 win, tying the series at a game apiece.
Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].
