Streaking ‘Dawgs focus on Blinn, Northeast

By MIKE MONTFORT

Bulldog Baseball welcomes Blinn on Tuesday for a non-conference game before Region XIV East Zone weekend series play resumes Thursday with Northeast Texas.

Coach Matt Podjenski’s Bulldogs (9-9/2-1) are coming off a weekend series win over the Panola Ponies that’s spawned a winning streak of five in their last six games.  Winning the doubleheader and the opening series at Carthage are biggest weekend takeaways as NC now has climbed to a .500 record after 18 games.

Weather permitting, the ‘Dawgs and coach Harvey McIntyre’s Blinn Buccaneers will play a nine-inning, non-conference game here when they meet for the second time this season.  Blinn secured a 9-6 win over NC ar The Brazos JUCO Classic on February 15.

The East Zone series with Northeast lines opens with a Thursday single game at Mount Pleasant and a Saturday twinbill here at Perry D. Graham Field.

From Saturday’s sweep at Carthage:

GAME 1: Navarro 3, Panola 0

Sophomore lefthander Carson Rollins won a pitcher’s duel in Game 1, throwing a complete-game, three-hit shutout as the Bulldogs blanked Panola 3-0 and evened their weekend series.

Ethan Ruiz slugged a one-out, two-run home run in the third inning to provide Rollins with insurance runs.

Navarro scored its first run of the game in the second inning when Cash Rugely walked, advanced to third on Alex Vergara’s single to leftfield, and came home on Logan Letney’s sacrifice fly to centerfield.

GAME 1 
SCORE BY INNINGS……….R-H-E (LOB)
Navarro……012…000…0 — 3-2-0 (LOB 1)
Panola…….000…000…0 — 0-3-0 (LOB 3)
Pitching:
NC: Carson Rollins (7.0 IP, CG/62 P, 3 H, 4 Ks) Win
PC: Trhea Morse (7.0 IP, CG/90 P, 2 H, 2 BB, 10 K) Loss
HR: Ethan Ruiz
TB: Ethan Ruiz 4, Alex Vergara
RBI: Logan Letney, Ethan Ruiz 2
SF: Logan Letney
_______

GAME 2: Navarro 13, Panola 4

The Bulldogs completed a doubleheader sweep Saturday and claimed the weekend series from the Ponies with a 15-hit attack to back the pitching of Jake Combs and Chad Ricker.

Navarro’s 3-4-5 hitters in the Game 2 — Jose Gonzales, Jr., Cash Rugely and Alex Vergara — combined for a sizzling 8-for-14 at the plate, accounted for four of the Bulldogs’ five extra-base hits, scored seven runs and drove in five.

Rugely, who had three hits, gave Navarro a lead it never relinquished in the run-ruled, seven-inning game with a two-out, two-run single in the third.

Navarro broke a 2-2 tie in the fifth when Gonzales, Jr. smashed a one-out, solo home run to leftfield on an 0-1 offering. The hit spawned a four-run rally capped by Conner Allen’s three-run homer to left that scored Rugely (single) and Logan Letney (walk).

Gonzales, Jr., went 4-for-4, walked, scored four runs and knocked in one; Rugely went 3-for-5, scored and knocked in three and Vergara went 2-for-3, scored twice and knocked in one.

Doubles by Gonzales, Jr., and Vergara opened up an 8-2 Navarro lead.

GAME 2 
SCORE BY INNINGS………R-H-E (LOB)
Navarro……002…044…3 – 13-15-0 (LOB 9)
Panola…….002.. 000…2 – 4- 9-1 (LOB 8)
Pitching: W: Ricker. L: Lindsay
NC – Jake Combs, Chad Ricker (4)
PC – Jackson Dannelley, Flynn Ridley (4), Trey Lindsay (5), Dylan Conde (60, Michaekl Soisson (6), Danny O’Donnell (7).
2B: Logan Letney, Alex Vergara, Jose Gonzales Jr.
HR: Jose Gonzales Jr., Conner Allen
TB: Shea Ellis, Logan Letney 2, Nico Patrick 2, Cash Rugely 3, Alex Vergara 3, Jose Gonzales Jr. 8, Conner Allen 4, Weston Symes
RBI: Shea Ellis, Nico Patrick 2, Cash Rugely 3, Alex Vergara, Jose Gonzales Jr., Conner Allen 3
FC: Cash Rugely, Alex Vergara
CS: Shea Ellis

________

SATURDAY EAST ZONE BASEBALL DOUBLEHEADERS
Games February 29, 2020
Navarro 3-13, Panola 0-4 (2nd, 7 Inn)
Paris 5-6, Bossier Parish 2-5 (2nd, 10)
Angelina 6-7, Northeast 1-6
___
Thursday, Feb 27
Panola 6, Navarro 2
Bossier Parish 14, Pairs 6
Northeast 11, Angelina 2 (8 Inn)