Published: May 07, 2008 01:14 pm            

Jackets and Dogs move on to area round

Two District 13-3A baseball teams are battling in two different best two-of-three series, beginning Thursday. in the area round (second round) of the state playoffs.

Kemp got there the hard way with a two-game sweep of Brownsboro, while Eustace took advantage of its bye and played a couple of practice games.

From now on, it’s do-or-die for both teams.

Kemp broke out of a tight opening game with Brownsboro to win going away, last Friday (13-7), and returned the next day to put away the Bears for good in a two-game sweep of a best-of-three series.

The Yellowjackets now play Texarkana Pleasant Grove in another best-of-three series beginning Thursday at 7 p.m. at Kilgore’s Driller Stadium.

A second-game will be played at 3 p.m. Saturday and a third, if necessary, at 7 p.m., all on the same diamond.

Eustace, which won its bye by becoming the top seeded team in a 13-3A playoff series prior to the state playoffs, meets Pittsburg at Greenville High School, beginning at 7 p.m. Thursday.

The second game is set for 3 p.m. at the same site, with a third game to follow, if necessary, on Saturday at a yet-to-be determined time.

“I thought our kids played well, hit the ball better than we have all year, all through the lineup,” said Kemp Coach Cody Ross, but he wasn’t nearly as impressed with his team’s defensive effort.

“We were not very sharp defensively, either game,” he said. “We kind of fell apart defensively, and just didn’t make too many plays.”

If the Jackets are to survive another round, Ross says his team will have to tighten up its defense.

“Texarkana Pleasant Grove is a well-coached, fundamental team,” Ross said. “They do the little things well, play small ball, and run a lot.”

All of which means, the Texarkana team will be applying consistent pressure to the Kemp defense to see if it can hold up.

“To beat them, we’ve got to cut down on our mistakes defensively,. If we do that and swing the bat like we did last week, we’ll be in good shape.

“They’ll put a little more pressure on us,” he said. “We’ve got to make sure we’re ready to go.

“Defensively, we didn’t really do the fundamental things you have to do. At this point, there’s not a lot you can do, but go back to the things you’re supposed to already know.

“Most of our errors were in the infield, four or five during the series. So we’ve got to be a little sharper.”

Ross hadn’t decided on whether he’d go with Scruggs in the opener, or Sallings, as of Tuesday afternoon.

“We’ll play it by ear, and see what happens. I understand they’ve got a couple of guys who can really play.”



EUSTACE VS. TEXARKANA PG

The Dogs, who won the 13-3A top playoff seeding by winning a three-way district playoff against Kemp and Kaufman, drew a bye in the bi-district round, but that has coach Chris Powers a little concerned going into the Pittsburg series.

It wasn’t like the Dogs were taking last week off. They played twice, in fact, beating one Class AA power and losing to another.

Eustace nipped Palmer, ranked among the Top 10, 4-3, then lost a 14-12 slugfest to Grandview, another 2-A Top 10 team.

Now, they face a hard hitting Pittsburg team, that has been known to throw a couple of good left-handed pitchers at its opponents.

For the Dogs to advance, they’ll have to have a good series against a kid named Duncan.

All he did last week was pick up two victories on the mound in two days. He also knocked a couple of home runs out of the stadium.

The first game was a 17-14 hitters' contest, with Duncan coming on in relief the last two innings to shut down White Oak long enough for his team to rally and win.

Then on Saturday, he took the mound and led his team to a 13-3 victory.

“They’re a pretty good team,” said Eustace Coach Chris Powers. “They made a couple of mistakes in the infield, but I could tell they were a better team than that.

In the opener, Pittsburg started a kid named Cheek, who hit seven Pittsburg batters and walked 10 more.

“They got a lot of free passes,” said Powers. “But they’re really solid,” he said. “They throw well and hit well. That Duncan can swing it.”

The Dogs hit the ball well in there two practice games, which is one of the things Powers worried about after a one-week layoff.

The Dogs will rely on a group of line-drive hitters to make things happen and to put pressure on the Pittsburg defense.

Once again, senior Lucas Cope (7-4) will be on the mound. He doesn’t throw that hard, but Powers says he’s a competitor, and one way or the other, he gets the opposing hitters out.

What he doesn’t do on the mound, he’ll probably do at the plate. Lucas is hitting .450, with five home runs and 39 runs batted in for the Dogs.

Eustace will rely on a talented freshman, Braden Strickland (7-2) for more pitching help in this series.

Strickland has 89 strikeouts. Like Lucas, Strickland can hit the ball. In fact, he leads the team with 44 hits and he has close to 30 RBI his coach says.

The Dogs also have good hitters in Ryan Compton, and Chris Compton is another .400 hitter, as is Cameron Coffey, who also leads the team in stolen bases and has two home runs himself.

Branden Grayson gives the Dogs another good stick with his .350 batting average. “He’s a solid hitter for us,” says Ross.

The Dogs’ strength has been their offense and their pitching. “They give us a chance to win a lot of times,” Powers said.

“We’re going to have to stay focused for the length of the series, and just keep playing. We’re going to have adversity, and we’ve got to battle through it.

“If we stay with it, we’ll be in decent shape. We’re going to have to play good, but if we do that, we’ll at least give ourselves a chance.”

        

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