Story courtesy of Brazos Valley Bombers
Victoria, Texas (August 2nd, 2022)- After finishing the 2022 regular season with the best record in the TCL, the (29-17) Bombers traveled to Victoria for their first matchup of a best-of-three series against the Generals. The Generals, who caught fire in the 2nd half of the season with a record of 15-5-1 in July, blitzed to a 7-0 lead in the first inning. The Bombers tried their best to battle back throughout the game but left 13 runners on base and the Generals held their lead for the remainder of the game to take a 12-8 victory in game one of the 2022 TCL playoffs.
The seven Victoria runs in the first came in many forms, Jackson Hardy started the game off with a leadoff solo home run. A pair of RBI singles scored another three for the Generals. An error from Bombers’ shortstop Ben Harmon allowed another run and the early scoring was capped off with another home run from Malachi Lott.
The Bombers fought hard to recover ground after falling behind in the 1st. The Brazos Valley scored one in the 2nd off a sac-fly from Ben Harmon to score Shelby Becker from 3rd who reached base off a single.
The Bombers scored a trio of runs in the 3rd to make it a three-run ballgame. Brayden Evans recorded his only hit of the night, an RBI triple to score Tyner Hughes. Shelby Becker followed Evans with a single to plate Evans. Becker found his way around the bases and scored off an error by Victoria left fielder Malachi Lott during Brandon Bishop’s at-bat to close the gap to 7-4.
Becker recorded his 2nd RBI hit of the night an inning later in the 4th inning with a double to score Hughes. Tyner Hughes had the hottest bat of the night for the Bombers, finishing with four hits in his six appearances and two runs scored.
After their offenses went quiet in the 2nd and 3rd inning, the Generals tacked on another three in the 4th and 5th inning to extend their lead back to a 10-5 ballgame. A pair of RBI doubles by Generals’ Reed Spenrath and Blake Bean scored two in the 4th inning.
After falling behind by five, the Bombers had a trio of single-run innings in the 7th, 8th, and 9th but just couldn’t catch up to the Generals. After loading the bases in the 7th with two walks and a HBP, Kyle Atkinson was brought home by a Mike Adair sac-fly. Atkinson scored again in the 8th off a wild pitch and Garrison Weiss capped off the game in the 9th with a run scored after an Adair infield grounder after reaching off a triple.
The Generals scored another two in the bottom of the eight to finish the game with 12 runs scored and end the game with a final score of 12-8. The two sides will travel to Edible Field for game two of the series tomorrow night as the Bombers push to keep their championship dreams alive.