Regional final baseball: Grapevine, Brock bounce back, more from Fort Worth-area

The UIL high school baseball regional finals continued on Friday. Here is a roundup of high profile games from the Fort Worth-area.

Grapevine plays small ball to even series with Argyle

Grapevine played small ball to perfection on Friday night and got a superb pitching performance from Dasan Hill as the Mustangs thumped Argyle 8-2 in Game 2 to even the Class 5A Region I Final series, 1-1, being played at Hurst L.D. Bell High School.

Game 3 of the series is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday, back at L.D. Bell. Just like in District 7-5A play Argyle won the first meeting and Grapevine the second, but this time there will be a rubber match to see who will represent Region I at state.

Grapevine (37-5) finished first in 7-5A with an 11-1 record while Argyle (29-8-2) was the runner up at (11-3).

It took Dallas Baptist signee Dasan Hill an inning to get rolling, but once he did he was lights out. Hill allowed an earned run in the first, but after that pitched five scoreless innings to get the win.

Hill finished allowing five hits in six innings with 12 strikeouts. The senior did not hit or walk a batter.

Grady Emerson led off the bottom of the first for Argyle with a ground single up the middle, stole second and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Colton Roquemore. Micah Roberts followed with a soft liner to center to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead.

Every inning that Grapevine scored the bunt played a big part. In the top of the second, Ryan Williams reached on an error and went to second on a high throw from third to first.

Lale Esquivel grounded out to second to push Williams to third. The Mustangs executed a safety squeeze as Gianni Corral bunted just out of the reach of a dive by Argyle starting pitcher Baron Mannis to score Williams to tie the game.

Later in the inning, Brady Boozer walked and scored on an error to give Grapevine its first lead of the series at 2-1.

In the third, the Mustangs got and infield single by Peyton Tatum who worked his way around to third on an error and wild pitch. Williams, Grapevine’s cleanup hitter, pushed a bunt to first base to score Tatum to make it 3-1.

“If the situation calls for it then yes, we’ll bunt it,” said Grapevine coach Jimmy Webster. “I just felt that the situation called for it and we executed those really well.”

Hill was in rhythm and rolling by this point striking out the side in the second and fifth innings and striking out two batters in each of the third and fourth innings.

“It was easy to go into it knowing that I have such a strong team behind me and such a strong defense,” said Hill, a lefty, of having to pitch in a win or go home game.”Everyone in our lineup can hit so just knowing that they’re going to back me up lets me go out and just do my thing.”

Webster said that he was really proud of how Hill answered from the second inning to the sixth after the Eagles touched him up for a run in the first.

“He kept his velo (velocity) and once he got in the zone he was really good and it was good to see,” added Webster.

Grapevine put the game away in the fifth scoring five runs on three hits. A pair of one-out walks to Boozer and Zackery Goldstein got things started.

Then the Mustangs bunted three times in a row. The first by shortstop Brenton Lee who pushed a bunt past the pitcher toward the second baseman to drive in a run.

Sammy Kelley followed with a bunt to the pitcher who tried to throw Goldstein out at the plate, but the throw was late making it 5-1 Mustangs. Tatum then bunted toward third to move a pair of runners into scoring position in front of a two-run double by Jarett Boswell.

“They can’t stop it,” said Lee, a senior. “They can’t stop us and if it ain’t broke then don’t fix it. If we get those bunts down then we just keep doin’ it and doin’ it and doin’ it.”

Williams plated Boswell with a single to left to make it 8-1 Grapevine.

Webster lamented the fact that his team didn’t make the opposing pitcher work enough in the 1-0, Game 1 loss on Thursday picking up two hits and one walk against Alex D’Angelo. But on Friday the Mustangs made amends pounding out 10 hits with six walks and taking advantage of four, costly Argyle errors.

“We addressed it and we were better about it,” said Webster. “We’re so athletic that we can apply pressure that way and we executed really, really well.”

Grapevine and Argyle split games in district play and now again in the Region I Final. Saturday’s rubber match for a trip to Round Rock should be a tense showdown.

“This is the type of things we’ve practiced for all season,” said Hill. “It’s going to be exciting. It’ll be a battle, but I trust our lineup to just keep doing what we do and I think that we’ll come out on top.”

Lee echoed the confidence adding that he and his teammates have been saying that “if they didn’t beat us today (Friday) then they’re not going to beat us tomorrow (Saturday).”

Gunter sweeps Boyd, punches ticket to state tournament

The Gunter Tigers took game two against the defending Class 3A state champion Boyd Yellowjackets 3-2, completing the sweep to reach the state tournament.

“It was such a disappointing loss last year to them, and I was glad they went on to win it because if you want to lose out, you want to lose out to the eventual state champions,” said Gunter head coach Daryl Hellman.

The Tigers only used two pitchers in their sweep of Boyd. Last night, it was Jarrett Waggoner. Today, it was Brooks Griggs-Bell.

Bell threw a complete game, allowing just two runs.

Hellman said his starters often have a rough first inning, but nothing that allows the game to get out of hand.

“We’ve never had a disastrous first inning. Maybe a run here or two there,” he said. “But if we’re within two or three runs against anybody, we’re confident we’re still in it.”

The Tigers gave Griggs-Bell a lead before he threw a pitch.

Leadoff hitter Brock Broddie drew a walk to open the game against Boyd starter Braden McIntire. Gunter used some more small ball, moving Broddie over via sacrifice bunt.

Boyd tried to counter Gunter’s plan by intentionally walking Cade Dodson to keep the double play in tact, but that brought up Carter Layton, who had a pair of RBIs in game one.

Gunter responded with a double steal, moving Broddie and Wood to second and third.

Layton’s single up the middle scored both runners.

“They didn’t know it was coming,” said Layton. “I just had to do my job.”

Boyd scored a run of its own in the bottom half when Aaron McGilvery and McIntire hit back-to-back singles.

An Eric Rogers double scored McGilvery, but the courtesy runner for McIntire was gunned down with a back-pick at third base.

Griggs-Bell escaped a few jams that jam, including limiting the Yellowjackets to one run in the sixth when a two-out Colton Patton triple scored pinch hitter Landon Snider.

“Getting within a run gives you a better chance, so getting that opportunity was big,” said Boyd head coach Brad McIntire. “It gave us a little life.”

It would’ve tied the game, but Gunter had scored an insurance run in the fifth when Walker Overman hit into a fielder’s choice, scoring Wood from third. The Tigers held onto that one-run lead when Griggs-Bell set the side down in order in the bottom of the seventh to end the game.

“[Griggs-Bell] pitched lights out,” said Hellman. “He’s a veteran and a competitor that always finds a way.”

Layton caught Griggs-Bell and put it simply.

“They call him Mr. Clutch,” he said. “He’s been a stud the past three years, so we put him in game two and he shut it down.”

Griggs-Bell said he built up confidence working back from 3-0 counts and getting strikeouts.

“I just kept focusing on the batter,” he said. “I knew I had it, I just had to go into the next pitch.”

Layton said the win was huge for the team and Griggs-Bell said he was confident they would have beaten anyone, no matter who was in the other dugout.

Hellman said the team has to stay focused and “not start summer break for at least another week.”

“We’re not gonna have an easy task–any team that qualifies is there for a reason, so we have to put together a good week of practice and get this thing done,” he said.

Brock defeats Jacksboro to even series

Brock entered Friday’s game against Jacksboro needing a win to extend its season.

The Eagles wasted no time pouring on the runs, scoring six in the first inning en route to a 7-2 Class 3A state semifinal victory to force a game three. Brock and Jacksboro will face off at 7 p.m. tomorrow, and the winner will advance to the state tournament.

Brock’s Gavin Delmas tallied a team high three RBIs with a double that cleared the bases. Centerfielder Sawyer Strosnider continued his elite play, notching two hits and an RBI.

Brock’s Evan O’Conner earned the win for the Eagles. He allowed five hits and two earned runs in seven innings, striking out 10 batters in the process.