Published: May 04, 2008 01:55 am            

Hornets bust loose

Four-run 7th lifts HHS to bi-district series win over Austin Travis

BRENHAM — It wasn’t another nail-biter, but it took seven innings for the Huntsville baseball squad to finally put away Austin Travis on Saturday in a best-of-three bi-district playoff series at Fireman’s Park.

Sophomore Shaquille Ross led a seven-hit attack with a double and a two-run single as the Hornets exploded for four runs in the top of the seventh to send the Rebels back to Austin following the Hornets’ 6-0 victory to capture the series two games to none.

Huntsville (19-11) will now face Houston Scarborough, the champions of District 19-4A, in the area round of the state playoffs later this week.

“It wasn’t quite as close as (Friday night’s 4-3 victory), but it was action-packed the whole way through,” Hornets head coach Shelby Shaw said. “If we would have taken the approach we did in that final inning early in the game, it wouldn’t have stayed as close as it did. We were out front and didn’t make adjustments, but I’m glad we hung in there.”

For the second day in a row, Huntsville struggled hitting offspeed pitches and breaking balls. Travis starter Andrew Bocanegra did a nice job of mixing things up, only giving up two runs through the first six innings thanks to a pair of errors.

The Hornets jumped in front 2-0 in the second when right fielder James Davidson reached on an error and moved to third on a double to left by Ross. Both runners came around to score when designated hitter Derek Kloecker ripped a grounder to short that Zach Cervantes fielded, but followed with a bad throw to first.

Bocanegra settled in after that and only gave up one hit while striking out six over the next four innings. But in the top of the seventh, the Rebels’ right-hander couldn’t throw his breaking stuff for strikes and started hurling more fastballs.

Big mistake.

Hornets starting pitcher Justin Davis ripped a two-out double down the third-base line that was just fair. Davis scored on a single by center fielder Cody Gougler to make it 3-0. Catcher Ethan Woods, who also had two hits, followed with an RBI single up the middle. First baseman Gustavo Arana kept the rally going with another hit.

Travis (15-14) then went to reliever Arthur Davila, whose main pitch was a heater, and Ross cleared the bases with a single between third and short for the final runs of the game.

“We hit fastballs really good, and when we made them change pitchers, the guy they brought in is the kind of guy we like,” Ross said. “We took advantage of it and put some runs on the board for a cushion for J.D. It just felt a lot better going into the bottom of the seventh up 6-0 rather than 2-0.”

The six runs were more than enough for Davis, who was cruising on the mound. The senior right-hander gave up four hits to go along with six strikeouts to earn the victory thanks to an error-free day from the Hornet defense.

The Rebels only threatened to score twice in the game. The first opportunity came in the bottom of the second when third baseman Leandro De La Cruz hit a leadoff double. The junior eventually made it to third with two outs, but Davis got Bocanegra to strike out looking to end the frame.

Davis got into trouble again in the third when Travis loaded the bases with three dinky hits that somehow fell in. But shortstop Jake Gregory scooped up a sharply hit ground ball up the middle, stepped on second and fired to first for a 6-3 double play to keep the Rebels off the board.

“Early in the ballgame I was trying to hit my spots because I knew they were going to come out swinging it pretty well,” said Davis, who only allowed one baserunner over the final four innings. “Yesterday they swung it but just couldn’t catch up to Caleb (Smith). I knew they were going to swing so I tried to stay in the strike zone, make them make contact and let my defense back me up.

“They did a great job behind me and the infielders were pretty much perfect all day.”

The Hornets will travel to Delmar Stadium in Houston for the first contest of a best-of-three series with Houston Scarborough on Thursday at 7 p.m. Game two will be at Kate Barr Ross Park on Saturday at 2 p.m. with the third game to follow, if necessary.

        

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