BASEBALL: Fossil Ridge topples Arlington Heights in extra-inning win

Logan Kasabian of Keller Fossil Ridge laughed good-naturedly when asked if he felt like he was being thrown to the wolves Thursday night.

The junior right-hander, who had pitched mostly in relief in non-district games and sported an 0-3 record, drew the unfavorable assignment of matching up with Fort Worth Arlington Heights ace Walker Kelly in the first game of the Panthers’ Class 4A Region I area-round baseball series against the Yellow Jackets.

But Kasabian wasn’t fazed a bit. He went toe to toe with Kelly for five innings, then drove in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth as Fossil Ridge pulled out a 3-2 extra-inning victory.

“I was a little nervous at first, but actually I felt kind of comfortable on the mound tonight,” Kasabian said. “With Kelly pitching, I knew I had to hold them to as few runs as possible. I just tried to throw strikes and let my defense do the rest.”

In the ninth, after Chris Ryan (2-1) replaced Kelly on the mound for Heights, the Panthers (25-8) loaded the bases on a single by Jason Heflin, a double by Carlos Rodriguez and an intentional walk to Brace Dunham. With the Heights infield drawn in, Kasabian slapped a single to right field to score Heflin with the game-winner.

Kasabian didn’t earn the win -- that went to senior Kyle Estill (7-1) -- but he gave the Panthers a shot at victory with his solid start. After giving up doubles to two of the first three Arlington Heights batters, he allowed only two more hits and struck out three batters.

Estill was also strong. Entering in the sixth inning with the game tied 2-2, he gave up no runs and only one hit while striking out four in four innings.

Arlington Heights (22-7) wasted a typically strong performance from Kelly. The TCU signee gave up two first-inning runs on an RBI triple by Brendan Alvey and an RBI groundout by Heflin but was dominant the rest of the way.

He allowed four hits and walked only one in eight innings with 15 strikeouts. During one late-game stretch, Kelly fanned eight of the 10 batters he faced.

“He was the way he’s been all year long. We just don’t score runs,” Heights coach Tommy Elliott said. “We had lots of opportunities, especially with the pitching matchup. Tonight was a game we had to have, and we just didn’t produce.”

Fossil Ridge will pitch its ace, Alvey, in tonight’s Game 2 at 7:30 at Arlington Heights.

“Our goal was to win the series, and we didn’t want to match Brendan up with Kelly,” Panthers coach Doug Dulany said. “Our pitchers tonight both did a great job. Now we feel real good to have this victory under our belts, and we’re counting on Brendan to finish out the series for us.”