'Birds have difficulty at Columbus

The Ricebirds had a tough outing for their first tournament of the year this weekend. Held Thursday through Saturday, El Campo took on the Columbus Baseball Tournament and finished with a win and two losses.

El Campo outlasted La Grange for a win to start the tournament, but fell to Needville and Columbus for a 2-2 overall record this season.

EC vs. La Grange

The Ricebirds won their first game of the tournament in extra innings. El Campo and La Grange were tied 5-5 at the end of the seventh inning. Neither team scored again until four innings later when the 'Birds rallied for a fourrun inning and a 9-5 win.

The game started well for El Campo.

Tyler Socha led off the game with a double and prepared to score. After an out in the next at-bat, Matthew Hamman reached first on a fielder's choice that missed on an out. Both Hamman and Socha scored the first two runs of the game.

Landon Appling came up to pitch in the bottom of the first inning and had a solid performance. Through the first three innings, he allowed one run, but La Grange found a groove in the fourth.

The Leopards made their first score in the second inning. After the first two batters of the inning earned outs, the third walked. He scored later on an El Campo fielding error.

The Ricebirds answered with a run in the top of the fourth. Andrew Kinder hit a single to open the inning and Chase Bullard brought him in on a single.

La Grange battled back with four three runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a 4-3 lead over the 'Birds.

El Campo jumped back on top in the fifth inning with a pair of runs. Socha and Hamman both scored again after reaching base on Leopard errors.

The Ricebirds took a 5-4 lead into the bottom of the fifth and Cade Radley came in to pitch. Radley held off the Leopards through the fifth inning earning three strikeouts. Later in the sixth, La Grange scored the tying run before Radley could end the inning on a pair of strikeouts.

Kinder came in to pitch in the seventh inning and gave a full game's work. With the score tied at 5-5, he lasted through the 11th inning, when El Campo pulled back out on top.

An out started the inning, but the next few batters connected for hits.

Michael Van Gorp hit a double for the first base runner of the inning. Socha, Holden Whitley and Hamman all followed with singles. Each runner eventually came around to score and gave El Campo a 9-5 lead moving into the bottom of the 11th.

Kinder only gave up one hit in the bottom of the inning and got the other three batters to hit into grounders to deliver the win for El Campo.

EC vs. Needville

The next game ended in a 3-2 loss for the 'Birds. El Campo came up with a pair of bookend runs, but it was not enough as Needville handed the Ricebirds their first loss of the season.

Hamman started the game for El Campo and pitched the entire game including the first two innings without giving up a run.

Socha hit a single to lead off the bottom of the first inning. He moved to second on a stolen base and took third on a passed ball by Needville's catcher and came in for El Campo's first run.

Hamman held the Blue Jays to one-run innings in the third and fifth innings to take a 2-1 lead moving into the sixth inning. A seventh-inning score put Needville up 3-1 before El Campo took one last shot at a win.

Taylor Graham drew a walk in the bottom of the seventh for El Campo's first base runner. Walks by Socha and Hamman and a hit by Whitley worked to bring in El Campo's second run, but the Ricebirds could not find a third.

EC vs. Columbus

El Campo played the tournament host Columbus Cardinals in their final game of the weekend. The Cardinals had couple of big innings to hold off the Ricebirds for an 8-4 win.

A walk by Socha got the game started. Later on Blake Korenek and Kinder both reached base on errors. All three runners scored to give El Campo an early lead in the game.

Radley was El Campo's starting pitcher and earned two hits, one run and three strikeouts in the first inning.

The Cardinals came back for four runs in the third to take a 5-3 lead over El Campo. Bryan Skow went to the mound for

Columbus

Radley and in the fourth inning Columbus scored another run.

El Campo's final run of the game came in the fifth inning. Socha took first base on an error by Columbus' second baseman. With speed, Socha traveled around the base paths to finish with a run on a hit by Kinder. The score cut Columbus' lead to 6-4.

A pair of runs in the sixth put Columbus up 8-4 and when El Campo wasn't unable to answer in the top of the seventh, the Cardinals left the field with a win.