Boerne Champion managed to split its 26-5A baseball series with Pieper after the Chargers earned a 6-2 victory last Friday.
Both teams won on the road after Pieper defeated Champion in Boerne last Tuesday, 7-5.
The Chargers are 17-6 overall and 6-3 in district. They play two with New Braunfels this week and were on the road Tuesday before hosting the Unicorns Friday.
Champion’s problem in its loss to the Warriors was leaving batters on base. They left the bases loaded twice in the last two innings but that wasn’t the case Friday.
With the game tied at 2-2, the Chargers loaded the bases in the top of the fourth frame with a single from Aidan Smith and walks to Andrew Harrison and Sam Miller with one out.
AJ Grazzaffi was hit by a pitch to score Smith from third for a 3-2 lead. Owen Kuhl then singled to bring in Harrison and courtesy runner Mark Thompson and it was 5-2.
The Chargers padded their lead in the fifth with another run. Garland Whitehead singled and moved to second on a sac bunt by Brody Bendele.
Harrison and Cal Isley followed with singles, and it was 6-2 before the Warriors could get out of the inning with a double play after a catch and throw out at home on an attempted tag from third.
Pieper cut into the lead in the bottom of the fifth with a pair of runs after they loaded the bases with one out. A single and a walk pushed in their two runs and the lead was down to 6-4.
The Warriors sliced into the lead even more in the sixth with another run after they used two walks and a Champion error, and it was 6-5 with no outs.
The Charger defense got out of the inning with a groundout and a line out and also threw a base runner out at home on an attempted steal.
Champion tacked on an insurance run in the top of the seventh after Whitehead reached on a walk to start the inning. An infield error by Pieper allowed Whitehead to move to third before he scored on a sac bunt by Isley to make it 7-5 going into the bottom of the frame.
The Warriors put on a runner in the bottom of the seventh with two down, but Charger pitcher Jackson Melanson ended the threat with a strikeout.
Sawyer Smith started on the hill and went 4.1 innings and picked up the win. He gave up 8 hits, 2 earned runs, 1 walk and fanned 2.
Aidan Smith also tossed in the contest and closed out the fifth frame and struck out a batter.
Melanson went the final two innings to get the save and didn’t allow a hit or run, only gave up 1 walk and sat down 2 batters.
The Chargers finished with 8 hits and were led by Harrison who had 2 hits, and a run scored, while Isley also finished with 2 singles, 2 RBI and a run scored.
Miller doubled, Kuhl singled, picked up 2 RBI, Whitehead singled, was issued 2 walks and scored twice, while Aidan Smith singled and scored.
Vs. Seguin
The Chargers also picked up a non-district win last Saturday against Seguin, 6-2.
Champion charged out of the gate and scored 4 of their 6 runs in the first inning. Brody Bendele and Garland Whitehead both doubled for the 3-0 lead. Bendele later scored on a steal of home, and it was 4-0.
The Chargers added 2 more runs in the fifth, thanks to another double from Andrew Harrison, who later scored, and it was 6-1 at that point.
Seguin tallied single runs in the first and sixth frames behind 6 hits. Champion finished with 10 hits, with Aidan Smith, Bendele and Harrison all recording 2 hits apiece and Bendele driving in 2 runs.
Pearce Kelly went 5 innings on the bump to get the win and scattered 3 hits, gave up 1 run and 1 walk, while striking out 7.
Parker Davis closed it out with 2 innings of work and yielded 3 hits, 1 run, no walks and struck out 2.
Comment
Comments