by MARK CAUL
Hays catcher Justin Heath tries to stretch a double into a triple during Thursday night’s series opener against No. 5 Brenham in Bastrop. Heath was tagged out by Cubs third baseman Eric Preuss. It was the only hit the Rebels got in the 11-0 loss. Hays went on to lose the best-of-three regional quarterfinal series with a 12-2 loss in game two in Weimar on Saturday. (Photo by Joel San Miguel)
The Hays baseball team ran into a roadblock in the playoffs that was the size of a mountain.
Brenham breezed to a 12-2 run-rule win in six innings Saturday afternoon in Weimar to sweep the regional quarterfinal series against the Rebels.
The Cubs (31-4), who are ranked No. 5 in the state in Class 4A, beat Hays 11-0 in five innings Thursday in game one in Bastrop.
Solid defense and pitching was the key to the Rebels winning 13 of its previous 14 games coming into the series against Brenham, which led Hays to a district co-championship and playoff wins over Montgomery and Nederland. But everything that seemed to go right for the Rebs over the last two months of the season went wrong against the Cubs.
Hays committed nine errors and walked 10 batters in the two-game series. The Rebels also hit four batters in the series and needed to use four pitchers in each game.
“The walks and errors led to a lot of their runs,” Hays head coach Doug Ragsdale said. “They hit the ball hard on the nose and it got through. We hit the ball on the nose and it went right to their defenders.”
Hays showed life on Saturday when a Sam Breyfogle single plated Justin Heath and Stefen Navarro, and the Rebs (24-9) took a 2-1 lead in the top of the third inning.
It was all Brenham after that, however, as the Cubs scored five runs in the bottom of the third, keyed by home runs by Chance Bolcerek and Jeremy Hall. Hays starter Shane Kelley (10-2) was pulled in favor of Dylan Salinas in the frame.
From there, Brenham coasted, as Bolcerek hit another homer and Seth Spivey added yet one more deep fly over the fence to help seal Hays’ fate.
On Thursday in game one, Brenham starting pitcher Ty Schlottmann allowed Hays only one hit, a second-inning double in which Heath was thrown out at third base trying to stretch the play into a triple.
Drake Roberts led off the game by hitting a deep ball that bounced off the glove of Hays left fielder Phillip Abreo as he tried to make a play. The ball went over the fence for a home run and Brenham led 1-0.
The Cubs took a 2-0 advantage into the top of the second, where they opened up an insurmountable lead on the Rebels.
Brenham chased Breyfogle, Hays’ starter, and the Rebels wound up using three pitchers in the frame, but not before the Cubs took an 8-0 lead.
Hays walked four batters, threw two wild pitches and hit two batters in the pivotal second inning, which was keyed by an Eric Preuss two-RBI single.
Despite the loss in the regional quarterfinals, Kelley said he’s proud of what he and his teammates accomplished this season. The Rebs finish the year as area champs.
“We came into the playoffs with most people thinking we weren’t going to make it out of the first round,” Kelley said. “We definitely proved them wrong. We’re sad it’s over but are sure proud of how far we went.”
