Tiger BB wins third in a row

BOWIE – Call it run rule, extended edition.

After the Jacksboro softball team had run ruled Nocona 19-0 in five innings earlier in the evening, Jacksboro’s baseball team felt the urge to do the same thing, leading 11-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning. A game is considered over if one team leads another by 10 or more after five innings have been played.

Nocona had other ideas.

With just two outs needed for an early evening to the delight of a large throng of Tiger supporters, the host Indians strung together four hits, two walks and an error to cut the 10-run lead in half. It would prove to be the last time the squad would score while Jacksboro went for the run rule a second time and made it stick in an eventual 18-6 final Tuesday night.

The Tigers, which won their third straight District 7-3A game, are 3-1 in the loop while Nocona slips to 0-4. Jacksboro Mentor Blake Belcher said it was simply a case of learning how to finish.

“We have to learn how to finish,” Belcher offered following the 2:44 contest. “Our start was great and our final two innings were great. We just needed to finish it in the fifth.”

The game was moved to Bowie after rains Monday made Nocona’s facilities unusable.

The aforementioned beginning was as good as the Purple have had all year, roughing up Nocona starter Cooper Hansler for six first inning runs. Hits by Cody Frie, Kasey Ray Swan and back to back RBI-doubles by Lando Belcher and Aaron Harmonson keyed the uprising and gave Jacksboro pitcher Jordan Yount breathing room.

Yount struck out the side in the first but Nocona scratched out a second-inning run. The Tigers struck five runs in the third.

A six-hit, three error inning commenced with Belcher stroking a oneout single and Harmonson moving him to third following an error. Kaleem Howard, Peyton Kinman and Swan each had hits to extend the score to 9-1.A second baseman’s error put Jacksboro into double figures and brought Christian Wiggins aboard.

Singles by Josh Pierce and Taber Dunn loaded the bases before Wiggins scored on an error for an 11-1 lead. Nocona made the score 11-6 before Jacksboro got rolling again with a four-run sixth and three-run seventh.

Hits by Frie and Yount accounted for three of the sixth-inning runs. Peyton Kinman’s two-out single, an error and two wild pitches would end the scoring.

In the seventh, a two-out rally commenced with singles by Baylor Laake and Yount sandwiched around a Frie walk. A wild pitch and Jackson McComis’ two-run double brought the trio home.

Laake struck out four and walked two over the final two innings to slam the door.

Jacksboro hosted Breckenridge Friday evening.