MOVING ON

The Littlefield Wildcats’ varsity baseball team putting a thumping on the Abernathy Antelopes on Friday to claim the Class 3A Area Baseball Trophy, 11-3.

With the win, the Wildcats are 19-7 overall on the season.

The Antelopes put their lefty Kaeleb Carrillo on the mound to start the game, and the Wildcats wasted no time jumping on him, as lead-off man, Jordan Trevino doubled to the left-field fence and Blake Green singled to right field, moving Trevino to third, putting runners on the corners for Littlefield. Ethan Hackler walked to load the bases and Chris Brown roped a two-RBI double to the center-field fence to put the Wildcats up, 2-0.

Gus McNabb hit an RBI single to right field on a drop by Jaxson Hoel, moving Brown over to third, as Joseph Salinas came on as the courtesy runner for the pitcher with the lead extended to, 3-0. Jess Hoel relieved Carrillo on the mound with no outs, as Ethan Garcia hit a sacrifice fly ball to left field to score Salinas from third, stretching their lead to, 4-0. Jonavan Weaver, though, would strike out swinging for out number two and Davin Saldana popped up to center field to retire the side.

Brown gave up a lead-off walk in the bottom of the first inning and Carrillo broke for second on a pitch, and the throw down to second got by Trevino on the bag, sending Carrillo to third. Green’s throw in got past Hackler at third base, allowing Carrillo to score on two errors by the Wildcats, trimming the lead to, 4-1. McNabb in foul territory at first base for out number one and Tanner Timms flew out to Turner Heffington in left field for out number two. Bradyn Daniel singled up the middle, but he was picked off by Saldana trying to steal second to end the inning.

Heffington struck out swinging to open the second inning, but Trevino singled to right field and Green walked to put runners on first and second with one out. Hackler was hit by a pitch to load the bases but Brown and McNabb both struck out swinging to retire the side.

Brown Got Jaxson Hoel to go down looking to begin the home half of the second inning and Landry Thornton popped up to Jeremiah Salazar at second base for out number two. Levi Carrillo tripled down the third-base line, but Jaxson Wiley hit a short pop up to second base that was caught on a dive by Salazar to end the inning.

Garcia led off the top of the third inning with a double that was bobbled by Caeleb Carrillo in center field, but Weaver struck out swinging for out number one and Saldana popped up to center field for out number two. Heffington drew a walk, but Trevino grounded out to Thornton at first to retire the side.

In the bottom half of the side, Aaron Cortez hit a chopper to Hackler at third base, who made a low throw to first, but it was scooped at first by McNabb for out number one. Kaeleb Carrillo singled to left field, but his time on base was limited as he was canned at second by Saldana a few pitches later for out number two.

Jess Hoel singled up the middle and took second on the play, but Timms struck out swinging to end the inning, as Abernathy stranded a runner on third.

Green hit a chopper to third base, but there was no throw on the play, giving Littlefield a base runner. Hackler singled past Daniel at shortstop, and Brown promptly unloaded the bases with a three-run moon shot to center field to extend their lead to, 7-1. McNabb hit a short fly ball to first that was caught by Thornton for out number one.

Garcia drew a walk and Weaver doubled off of the left-field fence, as Jess Hoel was relieved on the mound by Daniels. Garcia scored on a past ball, as Weaver took third on the play to make the score, 8-1, before Saldana drew a walk and Jaron Cabello came on as the courtesy runner.

Heffington grounded out to Daniels on the mound and Trevino struck out swinging and was thrown out at first on a dropped third strike to retire the side.

Brown gave up a lead-off walk to Daniels in the bottom half of the fourth inning, but proceeded to take down the next three batters in order, as he got Jaxson Hoel to strike out swinging, Thornton grounded out to Trevino at shortstop and Levi Carrillo grounded out to Brown on the mound to end the inning.

Green flew out to center field to begin the fifth inning, but Hackler reached base on a throwing error from third to first and made it all the way to third as the ball rolled down the fence line into right field. Brown followed it up with an RBI double to left field, as Salinas came on as the courtesy runner with the score, 9-1.

McNabb hit a one-hopper to Levi Carrillo at second base, who got the out at first, as Salinas advanced to third on the play with two outs. Garcia would line out to center field to retire the side.

Brown recorded two quick outs in the bottom half of the fifth, as Wiley grounded out to Brown on the mound and Cortez struck out swinging for out number two. Kaeleb Carrillo hit a triple to the center-field fence, but he was stranded on base, as Jess Hoel grounded out to Salazar at second base to end the inning.

Weaver opened the sixth inning with a fly out to Kaeleb Carrillo in center field for out number one and Saldana popped up to third base for out number two, but Heffington and Trevino drew back-to-back walks to put runners on for the Wildcats. Green kept the two-out rally going with an RBI-single to left field to make the score, 10-1, but Hackler popped up to Thornton at first base to retire the side.

The Antelopes pushed two runs across in the bottom of the sixth, but in the top of the seventh Brown reached base on a single to right field, as Salinas came on as the courtesy runner. He took second and third on fielder’s choice, as Kaeleb Carrillo made a bad throw to second, putting runners on the corners for Littlefield.

Garcia drove in a run, but hit into a 3-6-3 double play, as they stretched the lead to, 11-3. Weaver was hit by a pitch for the Wildcats, but Saldana struck out looking to retire the side.

Brown got the Antelopes to go three-up-and-three-down to end the game, with the Wildcats moving on after the, 11-3, victory over Abernathy.

“From start to finish, the guys were extremely focused. Offensively, we did a great job of waiting on pitches; when we got the right one, we destroyed it,” Head Coach Mitch McNeese said. “I think we got over 12 hits today, I’m so proud of our offensive production and there were chances we really could of blown it open, but we didn’t score all of the pitches we should have. I don’t know how many pitches they threw, but we worked their pitch counts high; three guys that pitched a lot of pitches, that was our best hitting game all year.”

He added, “He was in the zone! He has done this all year, he was pumping strikes, he was keeping it in the zone, they never got a rhythm on him, he did exactly what we needed him to do. To throw a complete game under 110 pitches, that’s why he is the ace.”

Brown pitched a complete game for the Wildcats, earning four strikeouts, while giving up two walks and three runs in the contest.

“It feels amazing, Coach McNeese and everybody has been talking about turning wrongs into rights. These dudes have had us for three years and it was about time to turn those wrongs into rights and that is what we did today, Brown said. “We’re playing pretty hot right now, there isn’t much more we can ask from these guys right now, they’re doing great.”

He added, “Next round, we just have to keep doing what we’re doing, we can’t get complacent, because anything can happen in baseball. We just have to stay focused and keep playing the way we’ve been playing right now and hit the baseball.”

The Wildcats will begin their Class 3A Regional Quarterfinal series with Tornillo on Thursday with Games one and two in Monahans. Game 3 will be on Saturday at 1 p.m. if needed in Monahans.

“Both of those teams [Dimmitt and Tornillo], are playing really good baseball and have really good pitching,” McNeese said. “We have to do what we did today [Friday]; we have to continue to hit the ball really well, pitching has to be there, lots of strikes and if we can continue to do that hopefully we can keep this thing rolling.”

First pitch for game one is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. with game two set to follow 30 minutes after.