ROUND ROCK, Texas — Despite falling in the state semifinals, Bellaire head coach Rocky Manuel is not going to take anything away from his team’s season.

“I’m not going to apologize for making the final four in Texas,” Manuel said. “We’re the No. 1 team in Houston, a final four team in Texas and the top 20 in the country.”

Bellaire’s improbable run to state ended Friday night at Dell Diamond with a 7-1 loss to Southlake Carroll in the 5A state semifinals. The strong pitching that got Bellaire to state didn’t get it done against a Dragon team that pounded out 10 hits against three pitchers.

At the plate, Bellaire was held in check by pitcher Ross Stripling, who after giving up a run in the first inning, settled down and kept the Cardinal hitters off the bases for most of the game.

After centerfielder Jarrett Higgins hit a one-out triple to right field, third baseman Will McCaleb singled him home two batters later to give Bellaire a 1-0 lead. But the Cards could not come up with any more runs as outfielder Brian Baumgarten struck out to end the inning with two men on base.

“I was hoping we were going to pop it open in the first inning,” Manuel said. “You have a 70 percent chance of winning when you score first in a big game. But it didn’t hold true today. We scored first, but we couldn’t score again.”

Meanwhile, Bellaire starting pitcher Tyler Duffey kept the Dragons off balance in the first two innings, giving up only two hits. But Duffey got into trouble when he gave up two singles with one out in the third inning. Then Carroll catcher Andrew LaCombe hit a RBI single to tie the game, then first baseman Will Watson gave the Dragons the lead with another RBI single, scoring outfielder Ronnie Mitchell.

Three batters later, outfielder Shaun McPeters laced a seeing-eye single up the middle to score LaCombe and Watson to give Carroll a 4-1 lead, which ended Duffey’s night. Matthew Anderson came on to pitch Bellaire out of the jam, but the damage was done.

Stripling took control of the game, holding the Cardinals to only five hits and nine strikeouts while retiring six in a row in the fourth and fifth innings.

“(Stripling) is a good spot pitcher, he hit his spots tonight,” Higgins said. “We tried to pull out, but as you see on the scoreboard, it wasn’t Bellaire’s time.”

Jeffrey Rohrbach did well in relief, but gave up a two-RBI double to shortstop Zack Bellenger with one out in the fifth inning, and a batter later, second baseman Josh Rake faked a bunt attempt and laced a RBI double to score Bellenger to put Carroll up 7-1.

“We rolled the dice and tried to take the safety squeeze away from them, and they pulled back and slugged into right field,” Manuel said. “That kind of broke our back right there.”

Freshman reliever Tollar Boardman came in and did well, giving up only two hits and a walk in 1 1/3  innings, but it was too late.

Bellaire, participating in its 11th trip to the state semifinals, had never lost a semifinal game until Friday night. But with 16 underclassmen returning, the Cardinals could have a chance to make up for it next year with another strong run to state.

“I can’t take anything away from our guys. Thirty-nine W’s with a lot of underclassmen playing,” Manuel said. “It’s tough out here. Hopefully we can work hard to get back here (next year).”

EDITOR'S NOTE: Because of contractual agreements, The Athlete's Connection is not permitted to sell photos from state championship events.

Subscribe to this comment's feed