Baseball: Diamond Notes

DIAMOND NOTES that didn’t make the weekend Twitter or Facebook baseball and softball coverage because of overlapping doubleheaders and time constraints.

+ Navarro’s last five wins came from rallies in the 8th or 9th inning – four of them on the road.

+ Bulldog relievers have not given up a run in their last 17 innings of work that spans five games dating back to April 22. There’s more. Over their last 25.2 innings, they’ve surrendered only one earned run. The emergence of Collin Storms (5-1, 2 Svs, 3.77), Colin Wyman (3-1, 1.77), Tanner Riley (2-0, 2 Svs, 3.17), and Pepper Jones (1-3, 8 Svs, 40 K in 24.1 IP) factor prominently here.

+ Storms collected four conference wins within his last seven appearances: Northeast (March 31), Angelina (April 5), Paris (April 15) and Panola (April 27). Over his last eight games spanning 17.1 innings, he’s struck out 17 and given up 12 hits and 3 earned runs. He’s unscored upon over his last four outings.

+ Second baseman Travis Washburn’s six triples matches Navarro’s individual single-season high established by Brock Holt in 2008.

+ Bulldog baseball has won 30 or more games 12 consecutive years (2008-2019).

+ Head coach Matt Podjenski has guided the Bulldogs to 30 or more season victories and 20 or more conference wins each of the last five seasons. Navarro’s won 4 East Conference Championships in 5 seasons and reached the Region XIV Tournament Championship game in 2017.

+ Cash Rugely’s .399 season batting average is the highest by a Navarro player since catcher Luis Trevino hit .417 in 2015.

+ Stacey Bailey’s team-high 53 RBI this season matches Trevino’s total for 2016 and ranks 11 on the single-season list. Just ahead on the charts are 2018 Bulldogs Scott Hastings (No. 9 at 55) and Josh Ragan (No. 8 at 56).

+ Since April 5, Dawson Woods has hit .429 (15-for-35) and driven in 14 runs. He’s hit safely in nine of his last 10 games. Deeper in the numbers, Woods has team-highs in sacrifice fly (5), two-out RBI (17) and batting average with runners in scoring position (.372).

+ Jose Gonzalez has hit safely in five of his last six games, going 8-for-17 with six RBIs.

+ For the third consecutive season, Navarro’s primary closer has picked up eight saves. Career-leader Asher Cook saved eight games in 2017 and 2018. Pepper Jones collected his 7th and 8th saves last weekend in the series wins over Panola, to match Cook’s single-season-save mark.