The Wortham Bulldogs went through an unbeaten district season and earned a first round bye, but the Crawford Pirates advanced through for the regional quarterfinal with a doubleheader sweep on Friday at Waco ISD’s Veterans Park.
Wortham had won only the third outright district title since 1987 and the first time they had won 12 district games.
Crawford was retired in order in the first game by starting pitcher Braxton Whaley.
The Bulldogs struck first in game one when Hunter Waggener led off the bottom of the first with a double to centerfield. He would score on a Michael McGlone sacrifice fly to center and the Bulldogs took a 1-0 lead.
Wortham added a run in the home half of the second inning. Brandon Coker reached base with a lead off walk and advanced to second on an infield single by Breven Tobola. Anthony Perez grounded into a potential double play, but the errant throw allowed Coker to score to take a 2-0 lead.
Crawford tied the game in the top of the fourth inning. Koby Smith led off the inning with a walk. Two batters later, Casen Ewing walked and Charlie Adamic stepped and looped a triple to right field, scoring Smith and Ewing. Whaley struck out Tate Abel to end the inning with the game tied at 2-2.
Crawford added two more in the top of the fifth inning. With two on and one out, Smith reached on a throwing error by Whaley and Tanner Meranda and Garrett Dutschmann scored. Smith was later thrown out at home, he was one of five outs at home by the Bulldog defense.
The game broke open in the sixth inning. Crawford plated four in the frame and began with Ewing walked and stole second. Abel scored on a fielder’s choice and Smith singled to center and plated two. The Pirates scored four runs on only two hits and took over the game 8-2.
Whaley took the loss on the mound and Brandon Hooser got the win. Adamic led the way with three hits on the night.
Game two began in the early evening and Michael McGlone took the ball for the Bulldogs. The Wortham offense gave him a lead in the top of the first inning. Braxton Whaley, at first base in game two, worked a two out walk. He advanced to third on a throwing error by the first baseman. McGlone singled to right field and the Bulldogs took a 1-0 lead.
Wortham left the bases loaded in the second. Ryan Mao had an infield single but was erased on a double play. Cade McCoslin reached on a throwing error and Tobola walked and Waggener was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Perez struck out swinging to end the threat.
Crawford evened the score in the bottom of the second. Adamic singled for his fourth hit of the series and Chase Westerfield singled and Adamic came around to score,
The Pirates took a lead in the bottom of the third. Meranda singled up the middle and Rogers was hit by a pitch. Dutschmann bunted to load the bases. Smith and Bruce singled to score two runs and the bases remained loaded. Dutschmann scored on a passed ball and Ewing scored on a fielding error. Crawford scored five runs to take a 6-2 lead.
Wortham tied the game in the top of the fifth inning. Whaley singled to right field and was erased on a fielder’s choice. Dylan Martin ripped a single to left and Mao reached on a Crawford error to load the bases. Brandon Coker worked a bases loaded walk and McCoslin had an RBI single to short left field. Mao scored on a sacrifice fly by Lane Zapien and Waggener was hit by a pitch to load the bases for a second time in the inning. Anthony Perez singled to score Coker and tie the game at 6-6. Whaley was the final out of the inning, the tenth batter of the inning and the game was tied.
Crawford got two runs back in the bottom of the fifth. Landry Bruce worked an 11 pitch walk and scored on a Hooser single coupled with an error. Hooser scored on an RBI bunt single by Adamic on the suicide squeeze and the Pirates took an 8-6 lead.
Wortham closed the gap to one in the top of the sixth inning. Martin was hit by a pitch and Coker walked. Martin scored on a throwing error and cut the Pirate lead to 8-7. Crawford added one more run in the bottom of the sixth to end the game and the Bulldogs in the playoffs.
