Playoff baseball recap: Rider's season comes to close; Jacksboro stays alive

DENTON — Rider played its final game in school history Friday night as Grapevine’s Joseph Kubo threw a two-hit shutout in a 4-0 win at Denton High School.

The Raiders didn’t register a hit until Alex Wilburn’s fourth-inning single. The Mustangs scored the only two runs they’d need in the first inning off Rider ace Tanner Poirot and added two more runs in the fifth.

Rider also struggled to get things going in Thursday’s 3-1 loss. The No. 2 Mustangs, who will play Lubbock-Cooper in the regional semifinals, scored three runs in the third inning to take control.

The Raiders (26-11) finally scored on Chris Chavez’s RBI single in the sixth, but a double play and interference call kept that from becoming a bigger inning.

“Team 62 was fantastic all season. Led by 13 awesome seniors, this team continued to compete no matter the circumstances,” Rider coach Jeremy Crouch said. “We had a team full of great kids with great parents. This program’s ‘Last Ride’ ended sooner than we wanted, but these kids battled to the end and closed out Rider with pride.”

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Jacksboro limits Iowa Park to three hits in sweep

GRAHAM — Jacksboro is the area’s last baseball team standing after the Tigers captured a 2-1 victory Saturday over Iowa Park to sweep the Hawks.

The Tigers advance to the Region I-3A semifinals where they’ll face Shallowater. That series will begin at 6 p.m. Wednesday at McMurry University in Abilene with Game 2 set for 1 p.m. Thursday and Game 3, if needed, for 1 p.m. Saturday.

Jacksboro’s Tyler Mitchell broke a 1-1 deadlock with an RBI double in the bottom of the fourth after Iowa Park had tied the game on Kane Decker’s sacrifice fly in the top half.

Jackson McComis then retired nine of the next 10 Hawks he faced to wrap up the win. The senior was dominant on the mound, allowing one hit and striking out four.

“I just have a mentality of throwing strikes,” McComis said. “I feel like I have the best defense in the state behind me.”

Strong Tiger pitching was also the key in Friday’s opener at Hoskins Field as Kasey Swan allowed two hits in a 5-0 victory.

Swan and Iowa Park’s Maddox Bernard were engaged in a pitcher’s duel until Jacksboro scored three times in the sixth. Cannon Valenzuela started the scoring with an RBI double and then came around to score on a wild pitch as did Tyler Mitchell.

McComis and Swan then delivered RBI hits in the seventh, although they weren’t needed with Swan striking out nine Hawks. Bryson Sullivan had both of IP’s hits.

“The development of my changeup has been a big deal,” Swan said.

Brock too much for Holliday

GRAHAM — Brock pulled off a regional quarterfinal sweep of Holliday for the third straight year, outscoring the Eagles 20-2 in a Friday doubleheader.

Brock won the opener 8-1 as it scored five runs in the third inning off Grant Cox to take control. Cox had Holliday’s only hit in the game — an RBI single in the first.

With the threat of bad weather pushing the series to a Friday doubleheader, Holliday didn’t have much time to regroup. Game 2 was tied 1-1 after three innings when disaster struck.

Brock’s first four batters walked, and Cam Harris added a bases-clearing double. Brock scored 11 runs in the fourth inning (six hits, six walks) off three Holliday pitchers, claiming a 12-1 victory.

Big inning costs Electa, 6-3

SANGER — Dodd City scored four runs in the third inning Wednesday. Electra couldn’t recover as the Tigers had their season end 6-3 in a one-game regional semifinal playoff.

Electra’s bats entered the matchup hot, but Dodd City’s Ethan Barnard limited the Tigers (19-5) to six singles and struck out 15 in 6 1/3 innings.

The Tigers scored twice in the sixth inning on Braylen Nava’s RBI single and on a balk, but Dodd City avoided more damage when a Tiger was caught trying to steal home.

Jeremiah Murphy took the loss, although four of the six runs he allowed were unearned. He struck out eight.

This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Playoff baseball recap: Rider's season comes to close; Jacksboro stays alive