3A Semifinals: Beckville 4 Brock 0

Beckville takes next step towards state championship

Two years ago, Beckville was in a position to win a state championship at the 2A level. That team fell just short in the semifinals, but a good portion of those players are back again in 2018 and they are hungry for a title.

Beckville has just one more win to achieve the state’s most desired crown after using a strong pitching performance to blank Brock, 4-0 in Thursday’s state semifinal contest from The Dell Diamond in Round Rock.

Beckville’s Trey Lindsay has pitched in a large number of big games for the Bearcats over the years, and came through again on this day, with nine strikeouts through his 5.1 innings of work. He gave way to closer Austin Bryan, which managed to preserve the shutout with 1.2 innings of scoreless ball.

“We have been here before and we knew we had to come out and get the job done,” said Lindsay. “It was a win or go home situation. We believe we were the best team coming into this thing and we look to finish it off the right way tomorrow.”

The Bearcats grabbed a quick 1-0 lead in the bottom half of the first inning. Michael Mize drew a full-count walk to put one aboard with nobody out. He scored shorty thereafter as Ben Bridges sent a ball to the left field fence for the RBI triple. Brock starter Jase Lopez did a nice job of limiting the damage, stranding Bridges at third with just one out.

After not doing much in the opening two frames, Brock went to small ball in the third, as Noah Nye and Tanner Patino both put down quality bunts to put runners on first and second with one out. Cole Lightfoot then singled to load the bases with one out, but Lindsay calmly struck out the next two batters to end what was Brock’s top early opportunity.

Lindsay singled to begin the fifth to setup the heart of the order, but Lindsay was not fazed, striking out the 3-4 batters to keep Brock off the scoreboard.

“He has been that way for us all year long and that is why he’s going to pitch in the all-star game next week,” said coach Jason Causey. “He’s been that guy and I’m super proud of him for what he’s done for our program and school. With the being said, Austin Bryan did a really good job coming in there in two tights spots to finish it.”

His offense gave him big run support in the fifth, plating three more runs to push the score to 4-0. With one out, Mize tripled to right. Ethan Harris had a RBI single to right before Burnett one-hopped the left field wall.

Lindsay, which walked his only two batters of the game in the sixth, gave way to Bryan for the final five outs. Brock had the bases loaded with two outs, but another strikeout ended it. Beckville now advances to the state finals to take on Clifton.

“It’s the biggest game of the year for us and we’re going to come out tomorrow ready to roll and hopefully bring home a state championship,” said Causey.

Top Hitting Performances

Beckville

Clayton Burnett, 1-3, 2B, 2 RBI

Brandt Harris, 2-3

Brock

Noah Nye, 2-4

Cole Lightfoot, 3-4

Player of the game: Trey Lindsay