Steers earn first district win with defeat of Glen Rose News Staff Tue, 03/19/2024 - 2:04 pm
- (TC GORDON | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Senior Tate Loesch swings and connects with a pitch during one of Graham’s games earlier this season. The Steers traveled to Glen Rose for a district game and earned a 6-3 win Thursday, March 14.
- (TC GORDON | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Junior Bruin Wright fires a pitch home during one of Graham’s games earlier this season. The Steers earned their first district win after defeating Glen Rose 6-3 last Thursday, March 14.
- (TC GORDON | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Sophomore Tripp Mahaney takes off towards second base after one of his teammates puts a ball in play during one of Graham’s games earlier this season. The Steers traveled to Glen Rose for a district game and earned a 6-3 win Thursday, March 14.
TC Gordon sports@grahamleader.com
In their third district game of the year, the Graham Steers put together a complete game and earned their first district victory by defeating the Glen Rose Tigers 6-3 last Thursday, March 14.
With potential storms and bad weather a possibility, the Steers traveled to Glen Rose for an afternoon matchup. It wasn’t until the seventh inning that Graham managed to break a tie with the Tigers and pull away for the win to move themselves to 1-2 in district.
The Steers played one of their better games of the season as the offense and pitching combined to propel them past the Tigers. Graham did commit four errors in the field which is something they’ll look to cut down on, but of those errors only one turned into an unearned run.
After the first six innings of the game, the two teams found themselves locked together in a 3-3 tie. In Graham’s half of the seventh inning, the visitors pushed three runs across the board to go up 6-3 and junior Bruin Wright shut the door on the Tigers in the bottom of the seventh to preserve the win.
As the visiting team, the Steers got off to a quick start in the first inning. Sophomore Tripp Mahaney led the game off with a single back up the middle and then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from junior Harison Brockway.
A few pitches later, Mahaney stole third and scored easily on a double to right field from junior Ty Thompson and the Steers led 1-0.
Glen Rose answered with a run of their own in their half of the first inning but Graham retook the lead in the second using more small ball. Junior Colter Johnson got hit by a pitch, senior Tate Loesch bunted for a base hit, both runners advanced on a sacrifice bunt from junior Levi Jilek and Johnson stole home on a wild pitch to put the team up 2-1.
Each time the Steers got the lead, Glen Rose managed to tie things up. This time it didn’t happen until the bottom of the fourth inning, but Graham didn’t let the tie stand for long.
In the top of the fifth inning, Wright singled and came around to score on a hard-hit double to right field by Johnson. But in the bottom of the sixth inning the Tigers tied the game yet again to make it 3-3 heading into the final inning.
Thompson doubled to left field to give Graham a hot start to the inning. However, the next two Steers recorded outs to make the hopes of taking the lead slim. But the team put together a small two-out rally to take the lead for good.
Loesch walked to put runners on first and second, then Jilek and junior Mason Milton hit back-to-back singles to left field to push three runs across and give Graham the 6-3 lead.
Mahaney and Brockway combined to throw the first 5 1/3 innings of the game and allowed Glen Rose’s three runs. Wright had come on in relief of Brockway in the sixth inning and was tasked with closing the game out in the seventh.
Wright got the Tigers to go down in order, with two strikeouts sandwiched around a pop out to end the game and give Graham their first district victory.
Following a game Tuesday, March 19 against Mineral Wells, the Steers will celebrate Senior Night at home Friday, March 22 against Vernon, with first pitch scheduled for 7 p.m.
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