Ricebirds' rally comes late, BC takes win

Blake Korenek

Tuesday was a tough night for the Ricebirds.

El Campo struggled at the plate against the Blackcats' strong pitching and lost 6-3 at Bay City.

It took a while for the Ricebirds to match Bay City's scoring power.

Matthew Hamman, El Campo's starting pitcher, gave a nice showing on the mound. He struck out six batters and only gave up three earned runs. The other three came on two Ricebird errors.

With a pair of runs in the third, fourth and sixth innings, the Blackcats gained a substantial lead, all while holding El Campo scoreless.

The Ricebirds broke through with three runs in the top of the seventh and by the end of the inning, El Campo almost out-hit the Blackcats for the game.

Michael Van Gorp led off the inning with a double and Chris Quinn followed with a single.

Holden Whitley drew a walk on four straight pitches to load the bases with the top of the order stepping up to the plate.

Tyler Socha hit into the first out of the inning, but also brought the first run in. He sent a ground ball to Shaun Rutherford, Bay City's shortstop.

Matthew Hamman

Rutherford made the throw over to first base and put Socha out, but Van Gorp was able to score on the hit. The run cut Bay City's lead to 6-1.

Blake Korenek hit another shot to Rutherford for El Campo's second run.

This time, the shortstop could not come up with the play and Korenek reached first on an error. an error.

Quinn crossed home plate to make the score 6-2. Korenek got caught on his way to second, however, and made the second out.

With a runner on third base and two outs, Landon Appling hit a single to bring in Whitley and keep El Campo's scoring hopes alive.

The run cut Bay City's lead to 6-3 and gave the Ricebirds a chance at a late rally.

Bryan Skow followed with a single and put runners on first and second base with two outs.

Matthew Hamman tried to bring in another run and sent a nice shot to right field. It was caught for the final out and Bay City claimed the win over El Campo.

The 'Birds fell to 3-5 in district play with the loss while the Blackcats improved to 6-2.

The Ricebirds will host Bay City Saturday at 2 p.m. for a chance at revenge in the series finale. El Campo still has pairs of games with Foster, Seven Lakes and Lamar Consolidated in the upcoming weeks.

RICEBIRDS AT BLACKCATS