Baseball recap: Keller, Legacy win district championship; Joshua, Arlington clinch playoff berths
Keller 13, Byron Nelson 2 (5)
In their final home game of the regular season, the Keller Indians brought the bats Tuesday night in a dominating win via run-rule over the Bobcats to clinch the District 4-6A championship.
The Indians, the top ranked Fort Worth-area team, are 24-4 overall and finish district 11-1.
Keller won the first meeting of the season with Byron 1-0, but poured on the runs with five in the first inning. The Indians led 9-0 after two. Michael Dattalo singled in Gray Rowlett for a 1-0 lead.
Whit Thoms doubled down the left-field line to drive in a second run and Trey Orman singled in two more runs. Keller got a fifth run on a wild pitch for a 5-0 advantage.
The Indians scored four runs in the second capped off with a two-run home run by Orman to left field. After Rowlett doubled in the third, Aidan Connors drove him in to make it 10-0.
Byron (15-10-3, 7-4) scored two in the fourth with an RBI single from Ryan Pruitt.
Rowlett belted a solo homer to cap off a three-run fourth for the Indians. Robert Cranz relieved starter Eric Hammond (USC) and struck out all four batters he faced.
Joshua 10, Cleburne 0 (5)
The Owls clinched a playoff berth and ended the Yellowjackets’ postseason hopes with a convincing District 14-5A victory on Tuesday night. Joshua is in a three-way tie for second at 7-4. Cleburne is 5-6.
Dylan Darnall threw 4 2/3 innings for the win. Aidan Lee and Gio Calamia both went 4 for 4.
A two-out RBI double from Lee got the scoring started in the top of the fourth. The Owls extended the lead to 3-0 with RBI singles from Blaine Marek and Hayden Chaffin.
Chaffin added a two-run single in the fifth. Calamia followed with a two-run triple.
Arlington 9, Arlington Bowie 1
The Colts broke open a 1-0 deficit with five runs in the fifth and four in the sixth to beat the Volunteers in a District 8-6A showdown and clinch a playoff berth.
Caleb Mitchell doubled in a run for Bowie’s lone run in the third inning.
After loading the bases with one out in the bottom of the fifth, Arlington’s Tyler Daniels took a 1-2 pitch and doubled to center to clear the bases. Two batters later, Alex Bustamante took the eighth pitch of the at bat and drove in another run with a single to right.
The Colts loaded the bases again the sixth and got two RBI sac flies and two RBI walks.
Arlington’s Piers Ross went the distance and allowed two hits and struck out five batters.
Mansfield Legacy 6, Everman 1
Drake Dowd went 3 for 3 with two RBI to help his cause from the mound and the Broncos beat the Bulldogs on senior night to clinch the District 8-5A championship.
Dowd doubled and scored two runs. He pitched five innings and allowed four hits with five strikeouts.
Griffin Binkley hit an RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the first inning to tie the game 1-1. Dowd singled in a run in the second followed by an RBI double from Given King.
Dowd singled in Binkley in the third to make it 4-1. The Broncos extended the lead to 6-1 in the sixth with an RBI triple from Raef Wright and RBI double from Easton Steenbakkers.
Binkley finished out the last two innings and didn’t allow a hit with three strikeouts.
This story was originally published April 27, 2021 at 11:06 PM.
