Coming off of an impressive win over the Clements Rangers on Wednesday afternoon, the FB Austin Bulldogs were looking to make it 3 wins in a row to start district against the newest varsity member of 23-5A, the Travis Tigers. The Tigers didn’t make it easy either, going up 2-0 after two innings, and the Bulldogs were lucky it wasn’t more.

Travis was poised to strike in the first inning, getting two straight hits to open the game against Bulldog Starter Benn Fairbanks – a double down the left field line by lead-off hitter Christian Floyd and a single by Michael Warren to put Floyd at third. The Bulldogs then caught a break when Travis SS Clay Tucker hit a hard shot to third, freezing Floyd, and then turned a double play 5-4-3. Another ground ball out by Travis 1B Zane Brown ended the threat.

The Tigers got on the board in the second inning. DH Jace Koonce led off with a home run to left; that was followed by a dropped fly ball in left that allowed Travis Pitcher Tyler Ford to reach safely. Ford then stole second and moved to third, on Jordan Camel’s infield hit into no-man’s land between the mound, third, and short. The Tigers put on the hit-and-run for their next batter, Jake Kacal, who shot a grounder through the hole on the right side, scoring Ford and moving Camel to third. The Bulldogs then caught what turned out to be a huge break. Travis 3B Abel Flores smoked a ball towards short, between the legs and off the pants of the field umpire – all the runners were declared safe on the dead ball play, and the runner on third who scored was returned to the bag. So, 2 runs in, bases loaded, nobody out, what is a pitcher to do? Fairbanks took matters into his own hands and struck the next three Tigers to keep the score 2-0.

The Austin bats were quiet through two, but they came alive in the bottom of the third. RF Caleb McKinney got things started with a single to right center; 2B Barrett Barnes followed with a walk. CF Daniel Rockett then tied the score at two with a double to left to score McKinney and Barnes. 1B Adam Shank made it back-to-back doubles with a shot to right, with Rockett holding at third. Not wanting to pitch to hot-hitting 3B Ryan Dalton, he got a free pass to set up a bases-loaded, nobody out situation. The next three Bulldogs came through with what they needed to do to score some runs – SS Scott Viktorin got one run home on a ground ball out to first; LF Blake Doerr hit a sacrifice fly to right, and C Drew Miller landed a two-out single into right center to put the Bulldogs up 5-2.

The Bulldogs added to that lead in the fourth. Barnes drew a one-out walk, which spelled the end for Ford; Barnes came around to score on Shank’s two-out double, his second of the game, off Travis Reliever Matt Daniels. Travis got that run back in the top of the fifth, with a one-out error to third that allowed Tucker to reach, a ground ball out from 1B Zane Brown to move Tucker to second, who then came in to score on Jace Koonce’s seeing-eye pop-fly single that fell in between LF Tony Gigliotti and hard-charging SS Scott Viktorin. That would close out the scoring at 6-3.

Bulldog Starter Benn Fairbanks went 6 strong innings, giving up 3 runs, 1 earned, on 8 hits, while logging 7 strikeouts. His only walk of the evening was to the lead-off hitter in the top of the seventh, which was the end of Fairbanks’ night. Caleb McKinney came in from RF to close it out, getting two fly balls to left sandwiched around a pop-up to second base to notch his first save of the season, seal the victory for Fairbanks, and give the Bulldogs their third straight win to start district play.

Next up for the Bulldogs will be a road trip to Marshall, while Travis has a home game against Elkins; both games are next Tuesday night at 7 p.m.

Bulldog Offensive Highlights:

· 6 hits for the Bulldogs, 2 for extra bases: two doubles by 1B Adam Shank; a double for CF Daniel Rockett; and 1 single each for RF Caleb McKinney, C Drew Miller, and SS Scott Viktorin

· 6 RBIs on the game: 2 for Rockett, and 1 each for LF Blake Doerr, Viktorin, Miller, and Shank.

Bulldog Pitching Highlights:

· Benn Fairbanks (2-0, 1-0), 6 innings, 7 K’s, 1 BB, 8 hits, 3 runs, 1 earned run.

· Caleb McKinney (Save #1), 1 inning, 3 batters, 3 outs.

Bulldog Defensive Highlights:

· 1 double play, Dalton to Barnes to Shank – the first two outs of the game, and held the runner at third.

Winning Pitcher: Benn Fairbanks (2-0, 1-0)

Save: Caleb McKinney (#1)

Losing Pitcher: Tyler Ford

HR, FB Travis: Jace Koonce

Score by inning: