Sports Texoma

CORINTH — The game was as close as expected on Thursday night between the second and third-ranked teams in the state of Texas, and Blue Ridge matched Windthorst pitch for pitch and hit for hit.

The only problem for the No. 3 Tigers was errors, both physical (five) and mental, and Colin Schreiber drove home Chase Schreiber with a one-out single in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the No. 2 Trojans the early advantage in the best-of-three Class 1A Region II finals with a 6-5 win at Falcon Field on the campus of Lake Dallas High School.

Game 2 is set for 7 p.m. tonight with Game 3 at noon on Saturday if necessary.

Chase Schreiber led Windthorst (31-7) at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a triple and an RBI, but it was Colin Schreiber who came through with the winning hit after Blue Ridge starter Tye McKinney (9-1) held him hitless in his first three at-bats before suffering his first loss of the season in tough-luck fashion.

“I thought Tye did a great job on the mound,” said Blue Ridge coach Matthew Todd about his starter who threw 121 pitches (76 for strikes). “He gave us a chance to win the game, and it’s all I could ask of him.”

Blue Ridge had the Trojans right where it wanted them in the seventh after McKinney notched his first hit of the game against reliever Travis Wolf (1-1), who picked up the win.

Pinch runner Jake Price stole second and scored on an error to tie the game at 5. Pinch runner Brendan Douglas stole third, but the trail runner  Robert Todd was thrown out at second to end the game.

It was about the only thing that went wrong for the senior first baseman and team captain, who led the Blue Ridge offense by going 3-for-4 with a triple, RBI and two runs.

“We got a little down in the middle innings, and they jumped on the ball,” said Robert Todd, as Windthorst scored at least one run from the third to seventh innings. “We kept responding, but they were the ones who responded last.”

McKinney was still strong on the mound despite throwing 110 pitches entering the seventh inning. He buckled Josh McCoy’s knees with his seventh strikeout of the game, but Chase Schreiber singled and reached third after Charles Deckard’s attempt to catch him stealing went into center field. He scored to end the game four pitches later.

“I’m upset about the mental mistakes we made tonight, because it’s something you can’t do against a team the caliber of Windthorst,” coach Todd said. “We forced them into making errors too, but we can’t afford to make five and expect to win the game.”

Blue Ridge (26-5) scored three runs in the first inning with two outs after Zack Gidney reached on an error. Shane Williams drove him home with an RBI double and scored on Todd’s run-scoring triple, his 54th RBI of the season. Todd caught the Trojans off guard by stealing home for the early three-run cushion.

Windthorst starter Cole Hemmi (11-2) kept the Tigers at bay the next two innings, and the Trojans pulled within a run after McCoy drew a bases-loaded walk and Chase Schreiber added an RBI hit. Hemmi, who allowed eight hits and four unearned runs with no walks and five strikeouts, retired the side in order in the fourth inning, and the Trojans tied the game in the bottom half after center fielder Joe Hoegger reached on a double-error and scored on a balk.

Windthorst picked up its first lead of the game an inning later when Chase Schreiber scored on Colin Schreiber’s RBI fielder’s choice after a one-out triple.

Todd singled up the middle, moved to second on a wild pitch, third on a passed ball and scored when the throw went into the outfield to tie the game 4-4 in the top of the sixth inning.

Coach Todd expects his team to bounce back the way it did after its Game 2 loss against Trenton in McKinney during the regional semifinals. Although the middle game has been unkind to his team the last two series, he expects a different performance tonight and in what he plans to be Game 3 on Saturday.

“It’s why you play the game,” coach Todd said. “Bland won the first game against Windthorst in their quarterfinal series, and they responded by winning the last two. I’m confident we’re going to do the same thing.”