"Cardinals Send Wharton Packin" (Orange Leader Article)

[Bobcatfan4life]

Cardinals send Wharton packin'

Gabe Pruett

The Orange Leader

BAYTOWN — If Bridge City fans had any doubts about the Cardinals starting a freshman in Game 3 of the best-of-three playoff series against the Wharton Tigers, Matt Hicks proved them wrong.

Hicks shook off the pressure and hurled 6 1/3 innings of six-hit baseball and even picked up his first homer of the season in the Cardinals' 9-2 series clinching victory.

The Cardinals now move into the Class 3A Region III Regional Quarterfinals to face the winner of Needville-Tarkington who were slated to play a doubleheader late Saturday.

While Hicks stayed in long enough so that Jeff Stringer only need to face two batters to end the game, the Tigers were forced to use four pitchers to try extend their season past the area round.

Bridge City (23-5-1) won Game 1, which spanned a two-day period due to inclement weather, and Wharton countered with a 5-3 win in the nightcap surviving a Cardinal rally in the seventh inning.

No such rally was needed Saturday at Baytown Lee High School as the Cardinal bats came alive for 14 hits, including three from Troy Bolton, Casey Warner and Stringer.

The Cardinals gave Hicks an early 3-1 lead after the top of the third and started to widen the margin in the top of the fifth when Daniel Willey led off with a double to left.

Warner moved Willey to third on a bunt off Wharton (23-7) reliever Michael Mata.

Stringer brought home Willey with a RBI single to right and Warner was able to take second.

Freshman Joe Robertson then reached based on a fielder's choice which forced out Warner at third base.

The Tigers' then went to their third pitcher, Taylor Ustynik, and he quickly gave up a walk to Garrett Delano to load the bases.

With Bolton up to bat, Ustynik put a pitch in the dirt which got by the catcher allowing Stringer to score from third and allowed Robertson to move to third.

Bolton made it 6-1 with a RBI sacrifice fly which gave Robertson plenty of time to score from third.

Trevor Barker would make it 6-2 in the bottom of the fifth after leading the half inning off with a single to center.

Barker moved to second and third on a walk and stolen base. A sacrifice fly brought home Barker from third.

But for all the offense put up by the Cardinals, the day belonged to Hicks and he proved it in the top of the sixth.

Hicks drove an offering from Ustynik over the left field fence for his first homer of his high school career giving himself a 7-1 lead to work with.

So after getting into a little trouble in the bottom of the fifth, Hicks went back to work in the bottom of the sixth after hitting the homer run and got the Tigers to go three-up-and-three-down to position the Cardinals from three outs away from moving on.

The closure of the series would have to wait a little longer as Bridge City was not done scoring as Stringer led off with a double to center and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Robertson.

With two down, Bolton ripped a RBI double plating Stringer making it 8-1 Cardinals and giving Johnny Dishon one more at bat in the contest.

Dishon took advantage of the situation and blasted a RBI triple scoring Bolton from 90 feet away making the final score, 9-2.

Hicks came in to finish the game in the bottom of the seventh but loaded the bases on two singles and hit batter with just one out.

Stringer was brought in and helped secure the freshman's first playoff win by striking out the only two batters he faced.

Stringer has been on a strike out tear lately by striking out 17 Splendora Wildcats in the bi-district round and then striking out 14 Tigers in Game 1. The future Lamar University Cardinal now has 120 strike outs on the season.

Dishon scored the Cardinals' first run on Saturday after walking in the top of the first and taking second on a stolen base.

The future Louisiana State University Tiger would later come in to score on a Wharton error.

[Guest Bulldog]

Great article...great team effort.......