After their 20-10 victory over Mayde Creek, the Bulldogs headed up Hwy. 35 for an early afternoon game with the Pearland Oilers, the third and final pool game of the Alvin Yellowjacket Tournament. Austin couldn’t hang onto either a big lead or a small lead, and ended up losing 9-8 in the bottom of the seventh.

Early on, it looked like it was headed for another Bulldog romp, as Austin put up 3-run gushers on the Oilers in the first and the third. 2B Barrett Barnes reached on an infield error, and 3B Ryan Dalton reached on a bunt. With one out, LF Blake Doerr had the first of his four hits, scoring Barnes. SS Scott Viktorin followed with a suicide squeeze to bring home Dalton and move Doerr to second. Doerr then stole third and scored on the overthrow.

In the third, Barnes started it all again by reaching on an error. With one out, back-to-back singles by 1B Adam Shank and Doerr scored Barnes. C Kyle Garoni singled to load the bases, and CF Caleb McKinney brought two home with his line drive up the middle. The Bulldogs also got a run in the fourth on singles by Barnes and Dalton, and a sacrifice fly by Shank.

Bulldogs starting pitcher Benn Fairbanks had his magic working through five innings, getting 11 ground ball outs, 3 strikeouts, and one fly out. The Oilers put up single runs in the second, third, and fifth, but didn’t seem to wake up until the sixth.

After holding the Bulldogs scoreless in the fifth and sixth, the Oilers erupted for 4 runs, none of them pretty. A lead-off double was followed by a strikeout, but strike three hit the dirt and ricocheted off C Drew Miller’s shin guard to put runners on the corners. That was followed by a ground ball to first, but Shank’s throw home was just too late to get the runner. The next batter walked, which spelled the end for Fairbanks, who was relieved by Dalton (Fairbanks to first, Shank to third). A ground ball to short got one out, a ground ball to second got another out, and a strikeout ended the inning, but not before the Oilers had tied it all up at 7.

The Bulldogs took the lead again in the top of the seventh. Shank and Doerr reached on an error and a single (Doerr’s fourth hit of the game), and moved up on a passed ball. With one out and Miller making his first plate appearance, a balk was called to score Shank. With the infield playing in, the Bulldog faithful was hoping Miller would continue his hot streak, but bounced out sharply to short. That would be it for the Bulldog scoring.

In the bottom of the inning, things just did not go the Bulldogs’ way. A first-pitch single, a full-count walk, and a couple of stolen bases put runners at second and third with nobody out. Dalton got the first out with a strikeout. Figuring the squeeze would be on, the Bulldogs loaded the bases to set up the force, which looked like a smart move when virtually everyone except the home plate umpire thought the next batter struck out looking for the second out. Instead, that batter ended up fouling off a couple more pitches before eventually drawing a full count walk to force in the tying run. The next batter struck out looking, but with two outs the final batter of the day lined the first pitch he saw into right field, too hot to handle, and scored the winning run.

Offensive highlights:

· 12 hits for the Bulldogs: 4 for LF Blake Doerr; 2 each for 3B Ryan Dalton and CF Caleb McKinney; and singles for 2B Barrett Barnes, 1B Adam Shank, SS Scott Viktorin, and C Kyle Garoni.

· 6 RBIs on the game: two each for Doerr and McKinney; one each for Shank and Viktorin. The other two runs scored on an overthrow and a balk.

Pitching highlights:

· Benn Fairbanks, 5 innings, 3 K’s, 3 BB’s, 6 hits, 6 runs, 4 earned runs.

· Ryan Dalton, 2 innings, 2 K’s, 3 BB’s, 2 hits, 3 runs, 1 earned run, and takes the loss.

Defensive highlights:

· In the first 5 innings, the Bulldog infield made 11 of the 15 outs via ground balls – that’s good pitching and good fielding. FYI, the other 4 outs were 3 K’s, and a fly ball to center to end the fifth.

Score by inning: