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The Bastrop baseball team will enter the Class 5A state playoffs on the heels of a split against McCallum last week. The Bears won the opener, 3-2, but dropped the second game, 7-6.
Game one
The Bastrop Bears won in walk-off fashion as Jackson Phillips hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning to secure a 3-2 victory over the McCallum Knights on Tuesday, April 22.
The Bears struck first, plating a run in the bottom of the first inning on a groundout to take a 1-0 lead. Bastrop extended its lead to 2-0 in the second on an RBI single from Frankie Andrada. Both teams were retired in order in the third inning before McCallum tied the game at 2 with an RBI double and single in the fourth.
The Knights threatened to break the tie in the top of the seventh, loading the bases with two outs, but a flyout ended the inning. In the bottom of the ninth, an error by McCallum allowed the Bears’ leadoff hitter to reach second base. An intentional walk followed, and both runners advanced on a double steal, setting up Phillips’ game-winning sacrifice fly.
Cooper Voigt started for Bastrop, throwing 6.2 innings with 11 strikeouts while allowing two runs. Francisco Arriaga earned the win in relief, tossing 2.1 scoreless innings.
Game two
The second game was just as dramatic, but this time it was McCallum who rallied late to defeat Bastrop, 7-6, on Saturday, April 26. Bastrop started strong, plating two runs in the top of the first on a two-RBI single from Bob Gorman. After a scoreless second inning, the Bears added another run in the third to go up 3-0. The Knights responded with two runs in the bottom half to cut the deficit to 3-2 and tied the game at 3-3 on an error in the fourth.
The Bears regained the lead in the fifth, scoring three runs on another two-RBI single from Gorman and a run scored on a dropped third strike to make it 6-3. McCallum trimmed the lead to 6-4 with a run in the bottom half of the inning.
In the bottom of the seventh, McCallum completed its comeback, scoring three runs and walking off the game with an RBI double. Andrada took the loss for Bastrop, giving up the three runs in the final inning.
The Bears now turn their attention to the postseason, where they will compete in the bi-district round. Opponent, time, and date are to be determined.
