Wednesday, April 24, 2024
After dropping a 3-1 decision to Stephenville on April 22, the Gatesville Hornets baseball team heads into the final week of the regular season with its postseason fate yet to be determined.
The Hornets will face Glen Rose twice this week with two shots at clinching a playoff spot for the second consecutive season.
The ideal result would be to sweep the week. Two wins to close the season would lock up a playoff spot.
Two wins against the Tigers paired with two Brownwood losses would mean the Hornets would finish the season as district runner-up. Two losses this week would eliminate Gatesville’s playoff possibilities.
Any result in-between allows for a number of convoluted potential scenarios:
“This district is crazy,” Gatesville head coach Chase Smith said.
In Friday’s loss to Stephenville, Gatesville bounced back in a remarkable way just three days removed from 14-0 loss to the Yellow Jackets. Even more remarkable considering they had to tackle the task of beating Stephenville’s Reece Elston – last season’s 6-4A Pitcher of the Year and likely repeat winner this season.
But Gatesville’s Hayden Mooney – no stranger to tackling everything in his sight – was more than up for the task.
The senior utility man matched Elston nearly pitch-for-pitch throwing a complete game, scattering seven hits and allowing just one earned run. Mooney threw 108 pitches on the night – 78 for strikes — struck out three, and did not walk a batter.
“He was as good as he has been all year. He did a great job of mixing up his speeds and throwing his curveball for strikes. He kept a really good hitting team off balance (Friday).” Smith said. “He was also able to locate his fastball in and out, which getting in on the hands of a couple of their power hitters and getting them to pop balls up was huge.”
Mooney kept Stephenville off the scoreboard through two innings but the Yellow Jackets broke through for the first run of the game in the top of the third when Corbin Poston doubled home Cade Wright with one out.
Poston advanced to third on a single by Kyler Bowman but Mooney was able induce a pop out and a soft groundout to get out of the inning.
“He is just a competitor and doesn’t beat himself and challenges opponents. He did a great job,” Smith said.
Stephenville stretched its lead to 3-0 in the top of the fifth thanks to a pair of Hornet errors. The miscues are something Smith continues to try and coach his team through.
“We have been working extremely hard and learning to overcome adversity.” Smith said. “My motto to the guys this second half of the season is one bad play don’t make a bad player. We have all made mistakes and not to let one mistake turn into two.”
The Hornets responded by touching up Elston for a run in the bottom of the sixth.
Grant Erwin reached to open the frame but was forced out at second on Parker Allman’s fielder’s choice. Allman promptly stole second and scored when Mooney laced a two-out double down the left field line and cut the deficit to 3-1.
Cayden Mata then singled to move Mooney to third but the Hornets were unable to push either across.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Hornets threatened again, bringing the winning run to the plate.
Mason Mooney was hit by a pitch to open the inning then, following a pair of strikeouts, and Erwin ripped a single to right field to advance Mooney to second.
Erwin was replaced by pinch-runner Kason Herbelin, who was forced into a game-ending fielder’s choice when Jacob Ybarra ripped a ball up the middle that was snagged by Stephenville shortstop Nate Barry, who tagged Herbelin to end the game.
The Hornets finished with four hits in the game – the double from Mooney and singles by Erwin, Mata, and sophomore designated hitter Bralen Veazey.
Poston had a pair doubles and Wright had one for the Yellow Jackets who also had four singles. Elston struck out 12 and did not walk a batter in his seven innings of work.
The loss was the fourth straight in district play for the Hornets, yet Smith continued to emphasize what is still to be accomplished in the final week of the regular season.
“I just reminded them how good we can be if we play clean and don’t beat ourselves and then I let them know what we had to do next week and that is to go take care of business and get two wins,” he said. “Those guys have been rallying around each other and picking each other up and I think we are going to come out ready to play some good baseball this next week.”
The Hornets hosted Glen Rose at 7 p.m. Tuesday and will wrap up the regular season at 7 p.m. Friday in Glen Rose.
