By Charles Dee
Hays Rebel baseball extended their season with a sweep of their Bi-District series over the Burbank Bulldogs of district 28 4A. The Rebs’ 8-0 victory on Tuesday and the 7-3 win on Friday push the Rebels into the area round against Leander on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
The first game featured pitcher Tyler Woodmansee “Woody” , who notched the second no-hitter of the season for the Rebs. Only a seventh inning error that allowed a single base runner kept him from a perfect game.
On the night he struck out 12 and moved his record setting ERA to 0.70. The Rebel bats provided plenty of support starting in the first when Athen Schultz and Justin Montana drew leadoff walks.
J.C. Cerda singled, followed by a walk to Justin Diaz and RBI singles by Nate Scott and Devin Palm. When the smoke cleared the Rebs had a 4-0 lead. The Rebs added a quick run in the 3rd when Palm singled and scored on Mike Gonzales’ double. The final tally came in the fifth as consecutive singles by Schultz, Montana and Zach Ibarra set the table for sacrifice flies by Cerda and David Riojas to end the scoring at eight.
In Friday’s game, trailing by 1 in the 3rd, the Rebs again used a big inning to push the Bulldogs to elimination. Palm’s single, a walk to Gonzales and Schultz’s well placed bunt for a hit loaded the bases to start the inning.
Montana and Ibarra hit identical doubles to left center to score four and Diaz finished the inning with an RBI single to right to post a 5-1 Rebel lead. The Bulldogs picked up a second run in the sixth, but collapsed in the Rebel half of the same inning when walks and errors contributed to 3 Rebel runs.
Mike Gonzales was worthy on the mound for five, striking out seven while giving up four hits. Reliever Trey Dickerson sealed the deal for the Rebs with two shutout frames for the save.
The Rebels are now 23-4. Game one of the Hays/Leander series begins Friday at 7:30 p.m. in Leander. Games two and three (if necessary) will be a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 11:30 a.m. at the Hays Rebel baseball field.
