(October 8, 2017 – Dallas, TX) The Spirits (Brazos) squad won the battle the found themselves in Sunday morning as they visited the DFW Hurricanes at Jesuit College Preparatory in Dallas. Both clubs exchanged punches throughout the game before the ghosts were finally able to pull away with a 4-run sixth inning that sealed the victory, 10 to 5.
Both squads went down in order to start the first inning and the Spirits drew first blood in the top half of the second when pitcher, Travis Hitzeman led off with a single. Hitzeman was able to advance to second on a passed ball and remained stranded after Hurricanes pitcher, Terry Helm struck out both Nate Martinez and Brian Hackney. Chris Lewis followed by reaching base on an error by shortstop, James Deen and Hitzeman was able to reach home to give the Spirits a 1 to 0 lead following the fielding blunder.
The Hurricanes struck back in the bottom half of the inning after Jeff Whanger drew a walk and Jody Nicewonger singled. Brad Petty also drew a walk and despite a pair of strikeouts by Hitzeman in the inning, Whanger was able to get home after Hitzeman put a pitch in the dirt to that got past Patrick Bilgere, who was catching.
Tied at 1-apiece, the Spirits rallied for another pair of runs in the third after David Tipton singled and stole second. Bilgere followed with an RBI single to score Tipton and the Spirits were up 2 to 1. Kirk Sipila drew a walk and Martinez squeezed Bilgere at third after reaching on a fielder’s choice that moved Sipila to second. Both runners advanced on a passed ball and Sipila later scored on another fielding error by Deen.
Up 3 to 1 in the bottom half of the third, the Hurricanes answered after Steve Harvey walked to start the inning. Harvey advanced on a wild pitch and then made it to third after David Brounoff grounded out. The Hurricanes followed with four straight hits including singles by Bryan Synatzske and Helm, and Vince Parello and Justin Toone followed with back-to-back doubles to give the ‘Canes a 5 to 3 lead.
The Spirits rebounded to take the lead 6 to 5 in the fourth after John Showalter and Jack Nash both walked. Helm was able to get both Tipton and Bilgere to leave two on with two out, however Sipila reached on an error that allowed Showalter to score and Hitzeman then followed with a walk to load the bases. Martinez followed with an RBI single to score Nash and Sipila later scored on a wild pitch to give the ghosts a 6 to 5 edge.
After that, Hitzeman locked in his pitches as was able to shut down Hurricanes hitters for the remainder of the contest. The Spirits added four additional runs int he sixth after Tipton reached on a error and Bilgere walked. Tipton stole third and then later scored after a pitch got past Crombar at the dish. Martinez later drew a walk and Bilgere and Sipila both scored on a Hackney single. Lewis capped off the scoring with an RBI single to score Martinez, which provided the game’s final score of 10 to 5.
The team returns to action on Wednesday night when they host the second place Knights at Graham field with a 6:30PM first pitch.
Waxahachie Autoplex Players of the Game
Travis Hitzeman (6 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 7 K, 4 BB; 1-3, R, BB)
Brian Hackney (2-4, 2 RBI)