The Bearcats beat the Bears 4-1 in a game where Aledo broke away in the fifth and sixth innings after strong defensive play through the first four innings.
Aledo took time during warmups to unveil the monument behind its dugout that has all the names of players, coaches and managers who were on last year’s state title team, the second in the baseball program’s history.
“It’s a testament to the kids who were on the team last year and that group of seniors that graduated,” Coach Chad Barry said. “I couldn’t be more proud of them.This is something that everyone who visits the stadium and looks at it will read their names on something that only two teams in the history of this sport at this school has ever done and that’s go win a state championship. Their names etched in history forever.”
Aledo got some good final work in last week playing in their final tournament of the season, hosting one site of the Drew Medford Memorial Tournament. After dominating the previous week’s tournament, the results for this tournament were a bit more competitive as the Bearcats went 3-1 overall.
The Bearcats got a walk-off win against Mansfield Legacy (2-1) before losing to Centennial (8-5) during the first day. The second day saw Aledo run-rule Lamar (10-0) and beating Midland Lee (7-1). The final day of the tournament was called off due to rain.
Barry hoped the tournament results will lead into a good start to the second phase of the season, the start of district play.
“Having momentum going into district is nice, but everything starts over,” Barry said. “I told them the 14-2 start to the season was nice, but that won’t get you anything moving forward. Everybody is 0-0 starting this week.”
The Bearcats then had to go win a baseball game against a program that has in recent seasons always made them work for their wins and would have liked nothing better than to ruin the night’s earlier celebration.
Lucas Nawrocki got the start on the mound and despite Brewer finding every way to get on base besides getting a hit that included a fielding error, a dropped third strike and walks, Nawrocki racked up nine strikeouts through the first three innings while not giving up a run.
Aledo bats finally found some rhythm in the third inning. Jackson Loos drew a walk, Connor Whitmire hit a single and Wilson Sehnem drew another walk to load the bases with one out. Luke Gladchuk hit into a fielder’s choice out at second base, driving in one run to put the Bearcats up 1-0.
The Bears answered in the fourth inning, leading off with two walks. Following a sacrifice bunt, Brewer got its first hit of the night to drive in the runner from third base to tie the game at 1-1.
Aledo almost started a two-out rally in the bottom of the fourth inning. Brady Huffman’s pop fly could not be tracked down thanks to the swirling wind and got down for an error and he reached second base. He stole third base later and Kyle Poindexter drew a walk to put the pressure on. The next batter hit a hard line drive into left field, but it was tracked down for out three.
After Brewer led off the fifth inning with a walk, Jace Schull came in to pitch relief. He induced a double play, fielding a weak hit ground ball for the out at first base before Loos threw the ball to third base in time to get the aggressive base runner out. Schull then struck out the next batter for out three.
Aledo was able to retake the lead next with Sehnem and Gladchuk coming through with singles with one out. After a steal by Gladchuk, both were in scoring position. Landon Barnes then had the shot of the night, hitting a hard ball into left field on a line that allowed both runners to score easily while he was safe at second base. The Bearcats now led 3-1.
In the sixth inning, Garrett Love came onto the mound to try and secure the win. He struck out two of the three batters and induced a simple fly out to right field for a quick inning. The Bearcats added to their lead with Loos and Whitmire drawing walks with one out. Thanks to aggressive base running by courtesy runner Miller Hill, who stole second base and took third base after an errant throw, Sehnam’s deep fly ball to center field was enough to drive in one more run. Aledo led 4-1 heading into the final inning.
Despite Brewer getting some life with a hit batter with two outs, Love’s fourth strikeout of the game was the last as the Bearcats won by the final, 4-1.
Barnes led the team with two RBIs while Sehnem and Gladchuck each had one. The team finished with five hits while drawing five walks and taking advantage of two fielding errors from the Bears.
On the mound, Nawrocki pitched four innings and allowed one run on one hit while striking out 10 and walking four. Schull pitched one inning and allowed no runs or hits while striking out one. Love got the win while pitching two innings and giving up no hits or runs and striking out four. The defense committed one fielding error, ironically the first batter of the game, but recovered to play clean the rest of the way.
Barry was glad his team got the win, but knows his team has it in them to play better from top to bottom.
“Usually the first couple of games of district are kind of like that,” Barry said. “Everything turns into a struggle. I don’t know if its nerves or butterflies or whatever, but everybody knows there is something more on the line than just a regular tournament game. Our pitching and defense was pretty solid all night, especially our pitching who had to get out of some jams. We had to wait for our offense to make their adjustments after going through the lineup once.We were able to generate what we needed to win.”
The Bearcats are scheduled to face Brewer one more time at 7 p.m. on March 13 at the Bears field to complete the series. Next week Aledo is scheduled to play only one game on March 21, a non-district game at Northwest High School at 1 p.m.
March 5-6
Bearcats 2, Mansfield Legacy 1
RHE
Legacy 000 100 00 - 1 2 2
Aledo 000 010 01 - 2 9 1
Aledo offense: Will Cayce four hits, two doubles; Landon Barnes one hit, one RBI, one walk; Luke Gladchuk two hits; Connor Whitmire one RBI; Jackson Loos two walks, one run; Wilson Sehnem one hit; Kaler Mazon one run; Kyle Poindexter one hit by pitch.
Aledo pitching: Lucas Nawrocki four innings, one hit, one run, zero earned, eight strikeouts, two walks; Garrett Love (W) four innings, one hit, seven strikeouts.
Centennial 8, Bearcats 5
RHE
Cent 400 400 0 - 8 12 0
Aledo 300 110 0 - 5 8 1
Aledo offense: Dylan Duran three RBIs, one hit, one run; Will Cayce one hit, one triple, one RBI; Wilson Sehnem one hit, one RBI, one steal; Landon Barnes three hits, two runs; Lucas Nawrocki one hit; Jackson Loos one hit; Luke Gladchuk one walk, one run; Reid Huffman one walk.
Aledo pitching: Luke Sandefur (L) 0.1 innings, six hits, four runs, one walk; Jace Schull 3.2 innings, four hits, four runs, one earned run, three strikeouts; Brady Huffman two innings, one hit; Wilson Sehnem one inning, one hit, two strikeouts.
Bearcats 10, Lamar 0
RHE
Lamar 000 00 - 0 0 0
Aledo 008 02 - 10 8 0
Aledo offense: Kaler Mazon one hit, two RBIs; Landon Barnes one hit, two RBIs; Will Cayce one hit, one RBI, one run; Dylan Duran one hit, one double, one RBI, one run, one walk, one steal; Brady Huffman one hit, one RBI, one run, one steal; Kyle Poindexter one hit, one RBI, one run; Asher Little one hit, one walk, two runs; Miller Hill one hit, two walks, two runs; Reid Huffman two walks; Teryn Byrne one walk, one run; Jackson Loos one steal.
Aledo pitching: Dane Browne five innings, six strikeouts, one walk.
Bearcats 7, Midland Lee 1
RHE
Lee 100 000 0 - 1 4 1
Aledo 040 012 x - 7 5 0
Aledo offense: Wilson Sehnem two hits, one triple, three RBIs, one run; Lucas Nawrocki one hit, one triple, one RBI, one run, two walks; Kyle Poindexter one hit, one RBI, one walk; Dylan Duran one RBI; Will Cayce one hit, one double, one run, one hit by pitch; Landon Barnes two walks, one run, one steal, one hit by pitch; Jackson Loos two walks, one run; Luke Gladchuk two steals, two hit by pitch, one walk, one run; Connor Whitmire one hit by pitch.
Aledo pitching: Teryn Byrne (W) 5.1 innings, four hit, one run, five strikeouts, three walks; Tanner Tovar 1.2 innings, two strikeouts.
Aledo 4, Brewer 1
RHE
Brewer 000 100 0 - 1 1 2
Aledo 001 021 X - 4 5 1
Aledo offense: Logan Barnes one hit, one double two RBIs, one steal; Wilson Sehnem one hit, one RBI, one run, one walk; Luke Gladchuk one hit, one RBI, one run, two steals; Kyle Poindexter one hit, one walk; Connor Whitmire one hit, one walk; Jackson Loos two walks, one run; Miller Hill one steal; Will Cayce one hit by pitch; Brady Huffman one steal; Kaler Mazon one steal.
Aledo pitching: Lucas Nawrocki four innings, one hit, one run, 10 strikeouts, four walks; Jace Schull one inning, one strikeout; Garrett Love two innings, four strikeouts.
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