Ricebirds win first ballgame
By KRIS BAGLEY sports@leader-news.com

L-N Photo by Kris Bagley Perfect Pitch Matthew Hamman delivers a pitch during El Campo's game with St. Joseph.

The Ricebirds started baseball season off well Tuesday with an openingnight 3-2 win over St. Joseph.

"Well, we knew their pitching was going to be pretty good," said Kery Brandl, head coach of El Campo's baseball team. "Their pitcher kept us off balance all night. He had a nasty curveball and we need to see good pitching. We knew it was going to be a dog fight and there's no such thing as an ugly win.

"We did a lot of things right. We've got to get better, obviously. We've got to hit the ball better. I thought our pitchers kept us in the game and we made most of the plays that we needed to. That's us. That's what we've got to do. We're not going to blow anybody away and we've got to take advantage of the opportunities when we get them."

Brandl recognized his pitchers for performing well in El Campo's season opening game. Matthew Hamman started the game and Bryan Skow finished it. Both came through with solid outings.

"Every night we go out, we've got to get better," Brandl said. "They through lots of strikes and walked a few and those are the runs that come back to bite you. We want to cut those out, obviously, but the first night in a real ballgame and Hamman threw four norun innings."

El Campo got the scoring started in the second inning.

Blake Korenek led off the inning with a triple. After the next batter hit into an out, Landon Appling hit a single to bring Korenek in for the game's first score.

Appling moved to third base with a pair of steals and set himself up for another score. The next two at-bats ended in strikeouts, but a passed ball by the catcher during the last at-bat sent Appling running home for a run.

The 'Birds took a 2-0 lead after the inning.

Hamman, the starting pitcher for El Campo, allowed three hits and two walks while striking out two batters and holding St. Joseph scoreless over four innings.

Skow came in to pitch the fifth inning and eventually closed out the game for El Campo. Skow pitched well in the top of the fifth and kept the scoreless-inning streak alive.

The bottom of the fifth was a chance for El Campo to extend its lead.

With two outs, Holden Whitley hit a single and advanced to second base on a passed ball in the next at-bat. A couple pitches later and Hamman hit a double to bring in the third run of the night.

Skow and Andrew Kinder walked in the next two at-bats to load the bases, but the inning ended with a swinging strikeout and brought the Flyers up to bat. After an inning of pitching scoreless ball, Skow got into trouble in the top of the sixth.

The first batter reached base after he was hit by a pitch. The second batter struck out looking, but the third batter of the inning walked to put two runners on base.

Both scored in that inning to cut El Campo's lead to 3-2.

Skow showed great resilience to come through strong in the seventh inning. He was facing the Flyers' ninth hitter and then the top of the batting order. Skow got the first three hitters out quickly to end the night with El Campo on top 3-2.

Brandl said he was proud of Skow's performance after allowing two runs in the sixth inning.

"Skow hit one, walked one and then a base hit (put him) in trouble," Brandl said. "But, he left a guy standing there, made the pitches when he needed to and in the last inning, he got them one, two, three and went to the house. That's a big thing. People didn't realize that they had their nine, one and two (hitters) in the top of the seventh. When you get one pitch, it can be a tie ballgame. That's a big deal."

Once the game was over, Brandl took his team to shallow left field and talked about the game. One thing he addressed was the Ricebirds'' hitting.

El Campo finished the night with five total hits on 23 atbats.

"We can't be satisfied," Brandl said. "We're either going to get worse or get better and we obviously need to get better. If there wasn't anything to work on, we could just shut it down for the rest of the season and quit practicing. We knew there was a lot to get better at. That's what the tournaments are for and that's what the predistrict games are for.

"We kind of got some jitters out tonight. We saw some good things, but know that there are a lot of kids out there on the field that haven't played a varsity baseball game before."

The prospect of playing a game that counts as opposed to practice outings may have put a little added pressure on the 'Birds, but they answered with a solid game.

"It's not the same as a scrimmage," Brandl said. "People are in the stands and they know it counts. Whether you put the pressure on them in a scrimmage or not, that's a different story. It's a whole different ballgame when it's for real.

"I think we'll relax a little bit more. They got a taste of some pretty good pitching tonight and we're going to see some more good pitching before it starts and in district. We've just got to relax, do the things that we're coached to do and the ones that have a little success realize that this is what we've got to do to be successful."

RICEBIRD STATS

EC Pitching Matthew Hamman - 4 innings, 3 hits, 0 earned runs, 2 strikeouts Bryan Skow - 3 innings, 1 hit, 2 earned runs, 4 strikeouts

EC Hitters Holden Whitley - 3 at-bats, 1 run, 1 hits, Blake Korenek - 2 at-bats, 1 run, 1 hit Landon Appling - 3 at-bats, 1 run, 1 hit, 1 RBI Hamman - 3 at-bats, 1 hit, 1 RBI