Ponies
sweep home doubleheader against Lon Morris
Longview News Journal
Sunday, April 15, 2007
CARTHAGE — Panola hasn't hit in Region XIV Conference baseball action the way it has wanted to. But Saturday afternoon at Jim Reeves Memorial Field, the Ponies got one of their better performances from the plate this season, sweeping Lon Morris with a 9-6 win the second game of a doubleheader.
Jared Wondra and Ricky Gardner — hitting from the No. 1 and No. 9 spots, respectively — each went 3-for-4 to lead Panola (24-22, 9-11), which coach Don Clinton said has its back against the wall fighting for a berth in the Region XIV tournament.
"We've got to take care of our own destiny and win a lot of ballgames," Clinton said. "We've got to have some people get beat. (Today) we swung the bat a lot better. I didn't like the way we played defense. It was a close ballgame and shouldn't have been.
"We're swinging the bats better, which we haven't done at all in conference. Right now we've got some pitchers that are down, and hopefully by next week we'll have them all back."
Wondra had a double, two singles, a walk, three RBIs and scored a run, while Gardner singled three times, driving in a run each time. Gardner scored twice, including an eighth-inning insurance run after reaching third when Lon Morris' (11-24, 3-15) center fielder couldn't catch a deep fly.
Gardner scored on the fourth ball of a Wondra walk that got by the catcher. Wondra then scored on a wild pitch to put the Ponies up 9-6.
Kevin Humphrey started for Panola before Cory Williams relieved him in the top of the sixth with the bases loaded and no outs. Williams forced a 1-2-3 double play on his second pitch, but yielded a two-run single to Brad Cochrane that tied the game, 5-5.
However, Williams retired the Bearcats in order in the seventh and gave up only a solo homer to Josh Brenn in the eighth before Addison Rayford got the save in the ninth.
Panola's Taylor Davis smacked an RBI double in the first to get the Ponies on the board, and Carthage's Kory Cleveland finished 2-for-3 with with a run and a sacrifice fly. Randy Papa scored twice after reaching on errors both times, and Miguel Alicea recorded a pinch-hit double in the eighth.
Game 1
Panola 5, Lon Morris 4
Cody Jones' first-inning three-run homer kept the Ponies ahead for the vast majority of the doubleheader's first game, but Lon Morris fought back with single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth to tie it.
Bearcat Tell Ross' seventh-inning solo homer to left gave LMC the lead, but Panola managed to score twice with two outs in the bottom half of the inning to get the 5-4 win.
Jones and Davis each walked to start the Panola seventh as Rayford and Rob Thomas pinch ran for them. Cody Deitz was called out on a two-strike foul bunt attempt, and Alicea struck out, leaving Panola with one final chance to extend the game.
McCandless, pinch hitting, sent a 1-2 pitch into right field, scoring Rayford to tie the game, 4-4. Instead of settling for extra innings, Manny Kumar decided to end it during the next at-bat.
Kumar ripped a 2-2 pitch into the left-center gap, scoring Thomas for the walk-off game-winner.
White Oak's Scott Copeland started for Panola, pitching a solid 5 2/3 innings, striking out five Bearcats, hitting three and walking two. Three of the first four hitters Cleveland — who relieved Copeland in the sixth — faced reached base. But after surrendering Ross' go-ahead homer, Cleveland retired the final three LMC batters of the game with a strikeout sandwiched between groundouts.
Jones went 3-for-3 with a homer, three RBIs and a walk, while Wondra finished 2-for-3 with a walk and a run. Hallsville's Daniel Slater, Davis, Alicea and Kumar each singled.
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