Tigers cage Hawks in two, move on to semifinals

Tigers cage Hawks in two, move on to semifinals Brian Smith Wed, 05/22/2024 - 10:15 am The Jacksboro Tigers won the regional quarterfinal series Saturday, May 18 against Iowa Park. The Tigers face Shallowater in the regional semifinals beginning Wednesday, May 22. Photo/Brian Smith Jackson McComis tossed a one-hitter in game two of the Iowa Park series Saturday, May 18. The Tigers won the game, 2-1 to move on to face Shallowater. Photo/Brian Smith The Jacksboro Tigers move on to the regional semifinals following last week’s two-game sweep of the Iowa Park Hawks. Jacksboro will face the Shallowater Mustangs in a best-of-three series which starts at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 22, with game two scheduled for 1 p.m. Thursday, May 23. If needed, a third game will be played at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 25. All games are scheduled in Abilene at Mc-Murry University’s Walt Driggers Field. Game 1 Tigers 5, Hawks 0 It’s been said it’s hard to beat a team three times in one year. To move on in the Class 3A postseason, Jacksboro, which split with District 7-3A rival Iowa Park in the regular season, would have to do just that by winning the best-of-three Region I quarterfinal series. The Tigers broke open a scoreless tie in the sixth inning and used a two-hit pitching gem from Kasey Ray Swan to post a 5-0 win in game one of the series Friday, May 17. As they have throughout the year, the Purple bats looked good in slapping out nine hits. Jacksboro went down in order in just two of the seven innings. The Tigers threatened in the first inning, leaving a two-out Jackson McComis double aboard as a strikeout ended the frame. Kyler Swan opened the third with a single with Kaleem Howard beating out a bunt single to put runners at first and second with one out. A wild pitch moved the runners over but a pair of fly outs to right kept the game scoreless. The Tiger defense helped Swan face just one over the minimum 12 hitters in the first four innings. A leadoff walk in the first inning was thrown out at second trying to steal and a runner at first was picked off the bag in the second frame. In the Tiger fourth, one-out singles by Kasey Ray Swan and Cannon Valenzuela got the rally going but a strikeout and a poppet to shortstop ended the threat. Finally in the sixth inning, the Tigers struck for three runs. Wyatt Gavit’s one-out double got things going. He came around to score on Cannon Valenzuela’s two-out double. Valenzuela stole third. Tyler Mitchell drew a walk and stole second. The pair made the score 3-0 on a pair of wild pitches. Kyler Swan drew a walk with Brayden Rockey reaching first after a third strike eluded the catcher. Runners were stranded at the corners as a fly out to center ended the rally. Jacksboro added two more runs in the seventh. Lando Belcher opened with a triple and scored on a Mc-Comis single. Kasey Ray Swan aided his cause by scoring Mc-Comis on a double to right centerfield. The next two hitters were retired to prevent further damage. Game 2 Tigers 2, Hawks 1 The Jacksboro Tigers received another solid pitching performance from Jackson McComis in game two of the best-of-three regional quarterfinal series with Iowa Park. The team made single runs in the third and fourth innings stick in a 2-1 win Saturday, May 18 over the Hawks to win the series, 2-0. Belcher said his squad was able to get around the slow start and get the job done. “ Our bats came around when they needed to,” Belcher said. “(We had) another great job on the mound by Jackson McComis as well.” McComis, who lost his first meeting with Iowa Park during the regular season, threw a 96-pitch one-hitter. McComis said all the pressure was on Iowa Park. “They were tight because they knew they had to win and it showed,” the senior pitcher said. “My changeup was working today, so that helped as well. The Tigers used a Kaleem Howard single and an error on a pickoff throw to reach second. Jacksboro coach Blake Belcher was less than thrilled with the way his team came out in game two of the bestof- three regional quarterfinal series Saturday, May 18 with Iowa Park. His Tigers, he felt, had squandered opportunities in the first inning. Running through signs to stop at third base which led to a runner being thrown out at home being just one of them. Lando Belcher came through with another base hit but Howard was thrown out at home, not seeing coach Belcher’s stop sign at third. A strikeout and a flout to left ended the inning. Jacksboro got on the board in the third, Brayden Rockey’s infield single and a balk call moving him to second. Belcher’s second double of the contest scored the run. A groundout to second and a fly out to right ended the frame. Iowa Park used an error, a single and a sacrifice fly to tie the game at one in the top of the fourth. The Tigers got the run back in the bottom of the fourth. Kasey Ray Swan’s leadoff double, a sacrifice from Cannon Valenzuela, and a Tyler Mitchell double just inside the third base line brought home Swan with the eventual winning run. Mitchell was stranded as a strikeout and poppet to second ended the inning. McComis would allow just a two-out walk in the sixth as the lone baserunner over the final three innings. Jacksboro stranded runners at second base in the fifth inning and at third base in the sixth inning.