Monday, April 29, 2024
A split of home games against Robinson and China Spring has the Gatesville baseball team sitting at 2-1 through the first three games of district play.
The Hornets fell to China Spring on April 2 after dispatching of Robinson for the second time on March 28. After an 8-0 win at Robinson, Gatesville rode the arm of ace Bralen Veazey to a 3-0 win in Gatesville to complete a season sweep of the Rockets.
Veazey used a mix of pitches to keep Robinson hitters off balance all night en route to an 11-strikeout performance. He struck out the final four Rocket hitters of the game and five of the final six hitters he faced. The Temple College-signee allowed four hits with only two leaving the infield and walked one batter.
Veazey has racked up 48 strikeouts in just over 29 innings of work this season. He ranks No. 14 in strikeouts in Class 4A with that number certain to increase with at least four more regular season starts plus the postseason.
Gatesville got on the board in the top of the third inning. Miles Tull drew a walk. Then Lawson Mooney singled to right, moving Tull to third. Mooney promptly stole second base. Then Bradey James drove in Tull and Mooney on a hard-hit ball just under the glove of the Rockets’ second baseman.
The Hornets added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth when Clayton Gregory drilled a double to left field, then scored when Tull reached on an error.
Veazey’s pitching counterpart in the game – Robinson’s Cayden Birkes – was also excellent in allowing just three hits and striking out six. Mooney, Gregory, and Gehrig Keeton had all three Gatesville hits, and each drew a walk in the game. James and Veazey also drew walks.
Despite a loss to China Spring, the Hornets are still in contention for a district title. The wins over Robinson mean that Gatesville will hold the tie-breaker over the Rockets in the event the two teams are tied in the standings at the end of the season.
In their 14-0 loss to China Spring, the Hornets simply picked a bad night to have a bad night against the state’s top-ranked 4A team.
After going 20 straight innings without an error over their last three games, the Hornets committed three errors in the loss to the Cougars. An error in the first inning helped China Spring jump out to a 2-0 lead. Then they busted it open with a nine-run second inning that featured two more errors.
Mooney had two singles to up his average to .309 for the season. The senior catcher is in pursuit of the third .300 season of his career after hitting .340 as a freshman in 2021and .303 as a junior in 2023. He missed the entire 2022 season due to injury.
Keeton doubled for Gatesville’s only other hit of the night.
The Hornets visited China Spring for a rematch on April 5 before hitting the road to face Connally on April 9.
