Wildcats Baseball Coach Jerrod Hammack said his team’s 13-8 district win at Pine Tree Tuesday night was a good opening win despite it showing things the Wildcats could do better. He said anytime you can win on the road in the district is great especially since the Wildcats beat a team expected to make the playoffs from the district.
Coach Hammack admitted the Pine Tree game was a little uncharacteristic for the Wildcats. He said they played poor defense making four errors and walked ten Pirate batters. He said that’s 14 guys the Wildcats put on base as freebies. Coach Hammack said Pine Tree was not swinging the bat very well and got only 4 hits during the contest. He said the Wildcats helped keep them in the game. Coach Hammack had no complaints about the team’s hitting. He said the Wildcats swung the bats well. He said they were using his philosophy of gap to gap hitting and the result was runs and lots of hits. Coach Hammack said the Wildcats jumped out ahead 9-4 but had to make a pitching change.
He said starter Ryan Humphries pitched well but had thrown too many pitches. His pitch count was over 100. Relief pitchers walked the first five batters they faced in the next inning. He said the pitches weren’t even close. Still the Wildcats held on and led 9-8. Coach Hammack said his hitters did a great job as they scored 4 insurance runs in the top of the seventh inning. Kaden Argenbright was sharp in the bottom of the seventh and the Wildcats claimed a 13-8 win.
The Wildcats play Marshall Friday at around 7 p.m. at Eagle Stadium. Coach Hammack said the Mavericks were picked to finish second in district. They come in 0-1 after a tough loss to Texas High Tuesday. The Tigers scored 2 runs in the top of the seventh to defeat Marshall, 3-2. Coach Hammack said his team has been playing pretty well lately and he is hopeful they can get a win Friday to open district 2-0. After a 1-3 start to the season, the Wildcats have won 6, lost only 2 and tied 1 in their last nine games.
