The Bulldogs woke up on game day to some good news – they found themselves all alone in first place in tough District 23-5A, and they’ve impressed the Houston 5A Baseball coaches enough to garner a #22 ranking. The news at the end of the day wasn’t as rosy, but still tied for first after a heart-breaking 8-5 loss to the Elkins Knights. In fact, it’s a logjam at the top with four teams tied at 4-1 – Austin, Clements, Elkins, and Kempner.

Things were looking good early for the Bulldogs. After a leadoff walk to start the game, Starting Pitcher Caleb McKinney set the next three Knights down in order, 2 by strikeout. In the bottom half of the inning, the Bulldogs were off to a hot start, with SS Scott Viktorin reaching on an error by his Elkins counterpart, and moving to second on CF Daniel Rockett’s bunt. Rockett suffered a sprained ankle on the play, and needed medical attention before play could resume. After a long break, a walk to LF Adam Shank, a single by 3B Ryan Dalton, and an RBI groundout by DH Blake Doerr got the first run home, but that would be the end of the scoring for the Bulldogs for awhile.

Elkins tied it up at one in the top of the second, getting a leadoff double by Pitcher Travis Crow, and two groundouts to move him around. Crow would strike again in the fourth, hitting another double after the leadoff batter was hit-by-pitch to put runners at second and third with nobody out. McKinney very nearly pulled a Houdini act, getting a pop-up and a strikeout for the first two outs, but RF Jolly was able to poke a single into the outfield to score two more runs. Jolly would eventually score on a stolen base and an error, making the score 4-1.

The Bulldogs appeared a little sluggish at the plate through 4 innings, put found a spark in the fifth. An infield error on CF Tony Gigliotti’s ground ball and a walk to Viktorin put two on for Austin. They both came around to score on Adam Shank’s slicing double to left to close the gap to 4-3. Elkins would manufacture another run in the sixth (Crow scoring again after his third double), but the Bulldogs would tie it up at 5 with two more runs in the home half of the inning. Back-to-back leadoff singles by Doerr and 2B Andrew Keplinger were followed by a walk to C Drew Miller. With bases loaded and nobody out, 1B Benn Fairbanks was robbed of a hit by a leaping third baseman to force the runner at home; however, Gigliotti and RF Aaron Marcynuk would come through with RBI singles to score Keplinger and Miller.

Tying the score got McKinney off the hook for a decision, who pitched well enough to earn a victory – getting 9 strikeouts while giving up only 3 earned runs. Ryan Dalton came on in relief and shut down the Knights at the end of the sixth and through the seventh, and was poised to steal a victory if the Bulldogs could scratch out a run. Unfortunately, Austin couldn’t capitalize on a one-out walk and steal by Doerr, stranding the tying run at second in the bottom of the seventh.

In the eighth, things got a little strange, to say the least. After a routine 5-3 groundout, the #8 hitter Jolly reached after being hit by Dalton’s 2-2 pitch. A good throw by C Miller looked in time to catch the runner stealing, but it slipped by the infielders allowing the runner to try for third; a good throw by 2B Keplinger and tag by 3B Shank was ruled too late. The #9 hitter Jackson managed to work a full-count walk, but the Bulldogs looked like they were going to escape trouble again by getting a strikeout looking by the Elkins leadoff man. That brought up SS Drew Vest, who had already struck out 3 times tonight, and he would become part of one of the strangest plays in Bulldog and possibly 23-5A history, a 3-run strikeout. See if you can keep up with this one -- Vest does indeed strike out for the fourth consecutive time; however, Strike 3 from Dalton is in the dirt and bounces off of Miller’s chest protector up the first base line. Miller’s throw is high to Fairbanks, allowing Jolly to score. Vest rounds the bag and gets in a rundown between first and second; he is nearly tagged out when one of the Bulldog infielders throws home to Miller, too late to get Jackson. Vest rounds second and sprints to an unattended third base, just beating a diving Miller, who sprinted up the line after finding no one to throw to. You can see the next part coming, can’t you? With no one covering home, Vest gets up and sprints home with the third run of the play, being chased and finally pushed down by Dalton, who earned himself an ejection for the intentional contact. Relief Pitcher Robert Psenka came in and recorded the last out of the inning, a strikeout on 3 pitches. Out of energy on this late night, the Bulldogs went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the eighth.

Next week is a busy one for the Bulldogs, with a tough test at Kempner on Tuesday night at 7 p.m., and games Friday and Saturday with Willowridge and Bush.

Bulldog Offensive Highlights:

· 7 hits for the Bulldogs, 2 for extra bases: a single and a double for 3B Ryan Dalton; a double for LF Adam Shank; and singles for DH Blake Doerr, 2B Andrew Keplinger, RF/CF Tony Gigliotti, and RF Aaron Marcynuk.

· 5 RBIs on the game: 2 for Shank, and 1 each for Doerr, Gigliotti, and Marcynuk.

Bulldog Pitching Highlights:

· Caleb McKinney, 5 2/3 innings, 9 K’s, 3 BB’s, 5 hits, 5 runs, 3 earned runs.

· Ryan Dalton, 2 innings, 4 K’s, 3 BB’s, 1 hit, 3 runs, 0 earned runs, and takes the loss.

· Robert Psenka, 1/3 inning, 1 K.

Bulldog Defensive Highlights:

· CF Daniel Rockett makes a diving catch in right-center for the second out in the first inning.

Score by inning: