The Springlake-Earth Wolverines’ varsity baseball team dropped game one of their Class 1A Bi-District series with the Borden County Coyotes on Thursday, 4-2.
Tom Kingston led off the top of the first inning with a walk, before Koda Bigham popped up Jalen Solis off of the mound for out number one. With a runner on second, Austin Buchanan hit a short fly ball to DeLeon at second base for out number two. Trey Edwards hit a shot past Gavin Gonzales at third for an RBI-single to put Borden County up, 1-0. Solis would get Justin Willborn to ground out to DeLeon at second base to retire the side.
DeLeon led off the home half of the inning with an infield single deep to Tom Kingston at shortstop. He took second on a pitch, before Trace Goodman struck out swinging for out number one and Solis popped up to Bigham at second base for out number two.
Davey Crandall hit a grounded to Mason Cole on the mound, who made a high throw to first, putting runners on the corners for the Wolverines. Crandall took second on a third-to-first move by Cole and Xavyer Mosqueda hit an RBI-single to center field to tie the game, 1-1. Mosqueda was picked off at first by Cole to end the inning.
Cole led off the second inning with a high pop up in front of the plate that was called by Solis, but he slipped on the play, dropping the ball to give the Coyotes a base runner. He would retire the next three batters in order to retire the side with the game still tied, 1-1, heading to the bottom half of the inning.
It was a pitcher’s duel until the top of the fifth inning, when Ethan Hargrove singled on an error by Slade Beerwinkle at second base. Kasen Oaks popped up a bunt on the first-base line that was caught on a sliding catch by Solis for out number one. Solis got Trent Lewis to strike out swinging for out number two, but Tom Kingston was hit by a pitch, as Hargrove took third on a ball away from Crandall behind the plate. Hargrove took second on a pitch to Bigham. Hargrove scored on a bad throw back to the pitcher, as Tom Kingston took third on the play, as Borden County took the lead, 2-1. Solis got Bigham to fly out to Josh Samaron in center field to retire the side.
Alex Alvarez led off the bottom half of the fifth with a single to shortstop, but Beerwinkle and Gonzales both struck out swinging and DeLeon was tagged out by Edwards on a dropped third strike to end the inning.
The Coyotes pushed two more runs across in the top of the sixth inning, as they went on to take game one of the three-game series with the Wolverines, 4-2.
Solis pitched a complete game for the Wolverines, giving up four runs and two walks, while earning five strikeouts.