ARMS RACE

HARKER HEIGHTS – In a pitcher’s duel between two of the top pitcher’s in District 12-6A, it was a matter of who’d blink first.

 

Copperas Cove’s Josh Carbajal and Harker Heights’ Daniel Cole kept the opposition at bay with strong pitching outings, which made every opportunity at the plate crucial.

 

The Knights were able to take advantage of their one opportunity in the second inning while the Dawgs were unable to respond with the bases loaded in the fourth in the 2-0 loss Tuesday night in Harker Heights.

 

“Daniel (Cole) pitched a great game,” said Copperas Cove head baseball coach Dusty Brittain. “He’s solid on the mound. We’ve just got to do a better job of putting the ball in play and coming through with the big hits. We had some opportunities. We had people on base a couple times but we couldn’t come through with that clutch hit. In big games like this against these quality teams in district, we have to come through with that big hit.

 

“Hats off to them. They kept us off balance and pitched a good game.”

 

Both teams had few opportunities to get on the base paths and even fewer times to move those runners in scoring position.

 

The Knights were able to make the most of their opportunity with two runners in scoring position and two outs in the bottom of the second inning.

 

After the Bulldawgs missed out on two opportunities to end the inning with no harm, the Knights duelmanaged to score the only two runs of the contest on a two-RBI single by Kyle Skelton.

 

“That one inning was unfortunate when you think about how they scored,” said Brittain. “I thought we had the guy out at second on the steal and we had a chance to pick him off (in the run down) and the inning ends and we’re still playing at 0-0. That’s not the way it went and it’s unfortunate because I thought Josh pitched a good game.”

 

The Dawgs nearly ended the threat on a steal attempt by Hunter Dean where the tag by Cove second baseman Jeremi Hawkins was ruled just wide.

 

They again could have ended the inning when Dean was caught in a rundown between third and home after a passed ball. An errant throw from catcher Cameron Johnson forced third baseman Michael Hays to leap high to make the grab, allowing Dean to slide safely under.

 

Skelton’s single to right field scored both Dean and Tyler Torres, who received an intentional walk to reach. Both runners advanced into scoring position on a balk call to set up the base-clearing single.

 

The Bulldawgs had a chance to return the favor in the top half of the fourth inning when they juiced the bases with two outs.

 

Carbajal helped his own cause with a two-out double to the left-field wall. Terrance Chamberlin then peppered a single past a diving Cole on the mound and beat the throw to first by Torres to put two on. Designated hitter Tyler Ingram packed the bases with a rare walk by Cole.

 

Cole worked his way out of trouble with his off-speed stuff to end the inning. A slider struck out Cove’s Neeko Kirk to end the threat.

 

“I’ve been in tough situations like that all year,” said Cole. “I’m not putting too much pressure on myself because I know, if they do put the ball in play, my defense is going to make the play.

 

“I was just looking to throw strikes. I had them off balance a little bit. I was confident in my off-speed so I went with my slider and they struck out on it.”

 

Both defenses then shut down the opposition. 

 

Skelton was able to reach in the bottom of the fourth on a throwing error by Cove third baseman Hays and Dean reached on a ground-rule double in the bottom of the sixth when his shot to left field rolled under the back fence.

 

Jacob Mitchell also reached on a walk in the bottom of the fifth but Carbajal started a 1-6-3 double play that ended that threat before sitting down Heights’ Jake Dulaney on his sixth strikeout of the contest.

 

Kirk reached for Cove in the top of the third and was moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt by Johnson but was left stranded. 

 

Hays put a runner on the paths again for Cove in the top of the sixth with a one-out single to left, but he too, was left on. 

 

Cole finished the shutout win with 12 strikeouts and just two walks while allowing no earned runs on three hits in seven innings.

 

Carbajal gave up just two earned runs on three hits in five innings on the bump. He had five walks to go with his six strikeouts. He’s coming off back-to-back starts at Midway last Friday and Heights on Tuesday and coach Brittain says that’s by design. Brittain wants his best guy on the mound in the crucial games.

 

“He’s our guy,” said Brittain. “We’re going to give him the ball when we have big games on the line and he wants the ball. In these conditions with the sticky mound and wet ball, he came through with some big outs and pitched himself out of some big jams. That’s what he has done all year. It’s unfortunate that, as well as we’ve hit the ball all year, we didn’t come through with more offensive production for him. He pitched well enough to win the game.” 

 

The Dawgs (12-6 overall, 2-3 in District 12-6A) are still in the thick of the playoff chase despite losing three of the last four contests. The currently sit in the fourth spot in the standings tied at 2-3 with Ellison. The Dawgs hold the head-to-head edge over the Eagles after the walk-off win over Ellison last week.

 

“The good thing about these kids is they’re not happy with 3-3 and just making the playoffs,” said Brittain. “They’ve got a lot of drive so we just have to come up with that big win in the second round.”

 

The Dawgs three district losses came by a combined eight runs, including Tuesday’s loss to the Knights, so the chances were there, says Brittain.

 

“We’ve just got to take the bull by the horns and we’ve got to come through with the big hits so that’s not such a big deal,” he said. “I didn’t like the way either one of those plays worked out, but if we get a big hit there with the bases loaded then none of that even matters. 

 

“We’ve got to take a daily approach. We have Shoemaker on Friday and that’s a big one for us to finish the first round. If we can finish out at 3-3, it will give ourselves a chance in that second round to go knock some people off.”