Shiner, Thrall to play decisive third game
after splitting first two
by Mike Forman, Victoria Advocate Sports
Friday, May 20, 2011
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LA GRANGE - Shiner junior Ky Sandelovic needed only a few words to sum up where his team stood.
Shiner's Jacob Stafford slides in safe as Thrall third baseman Colton Mikulencak reaches for the tag in the first game on Friday in La Grange. photos by Genna Martin, Victoria Advocate
It's lose and go home," Sandelovic said. "So we've got to come out shooting for buck."
The Comanches left Fairgrounds Park on Friday night feeling like they shot themselves in the foot in the second game of its best-of-three Class 1A regional quarterfinal series against Thrall.
After Sandelovic pitched a three-hitter to lead Shiner to a 2-1 win in Game 1, the Comanches committed four errors in the fifth inning of the second game that led to five Thrall runs in a 6-2 loss to the Tigers.
Shiner (24-7) and Thrall (21-11) will return to Fairgrounds Park on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. for the decisive Game 3, with the winner advancing to the regional semifinals against the winner of the D'Hanis-Ben Bolt series.
"They're disappointed that they lost because they played hard," said Shiner coach Daniel Boedeker. "At the same time, tomorrow's another day and what happened today doesn't matter tomorrow. We've got to come out and play good baseball."
Shiner's Blaine Caka makes it safe to second as Thrall's Logan Lovelace, right, and Tucker Lovelace jump for the fly ball during Game 1 on Friday in La Grange. Shiner won Game 1 2-1 and lost Game 2 6-2.
The Comanches played extremely well in Game 1, backing the pitching of Sandelovic with nearly flawless defense.
"I thought he did a real good job of mixing his fastball and curveball up and keeping them off balance," Boedeker said. "When they did put it in play, we made plays behind him. He kept us in the game."
Sandelovic struck out seven and stranded five runners, including two at third base when the game was scoreless.
"My arm was feeling real great," Sandelovic said. "I had my curveball working today so it was helping me out."
Shiner scored in the sixth when Brady Cejka walked and came home on a triple by Coy Boedeker, who scored on a sacrifice fly by Cuatro Rankin.
The Comanches seemed to carry the momentum into Game 2 when they scored solo runs in the first and the second inning.
But they missed chances to break the game open, leaving five runners on in the first four innings. The top four hitters in the Shiner lineup went 1 for 16 in the second game.
Shiner's Jacob Stafford dives back to first as Thrall's Cody Carter catches a pickoff attempt during their first game Friday in La Grange.
"We had opportunities with people on base," Boedeker said. "We just didn't come up with the big hit."
The Tigers made the Comanches pay in the fifth when they sent nine batters to the plate and had four of their seven hits against starter Joey Gamez to go along with the Shiner errors.
"Yea, one bad inning," Boedeker said. "We had an error and they hit the ball and put themselves in good situations and we just didn't make a play or two to get us out of that thing before they scored five runs."
The Comanches left three more runners on in the final three innings to find themselves in a must-win situation.
"We've still got to go out and throw strikes, we've got to play good defense and we've got to score some runs," Boedeker said. "We've got to swing the bat a little bit better throughout the course of the game."
NOTES: Shiner will be the home team Saturday.
Class 1A Regional Quarterfinals
Shiner vs. Thrall
Best-of-three at La Grange Fairgrounds
Game 1, Shiner 2, Thrall 1; Game 2, Thrall 6, Shiner 2; Game 3, Saturday, 11:30 a.m.
Class 1A Regional Quarterfinals Game 1 Shiner 2, Thrall 1 Shiner 000 002 0 - 2 6 1 Thrall 000 001 0 - 1 3 1 Ky Sandelovic and Zach Reese. Aaron Kirby and Hayden Caffey. W: Sandelovic (10-2). L: Kirby. Highlights: (S) Sandelovic 7 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 1 HP, 7 Ks, 2 for 3; Coy Boedeker 1 for 3, 3B, R, RBI. (T) Kirby 2 for 2, 2B, RBI. Game 1 Thrall 6, Shiner 2 Thrall 000 050 1 - 6 7 3 Shiner 110 000 0 - 2 5 5 Colton Mikulencak and Hayden Caffey. Joey Gamez, Jacob Stafford (7) and Zach Reese, Cuatro Rankin (7). W: Mikulencak. L: Gamez (9-3). Highlights: (T) Mikulencak 1 for 2, 2 RBIs; Caffey 2 for 4, RBI; Aaron Kirby 1 for 3, RBI. (S) Zach Reese 2 for 3, 2 2B, Wesley Patek 1 for 1, RBI. Records: Thrall 22-10; Shiner 24-7.
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