Highlanders take series over Howard

The McLennan Highlanders took two of three games from the Howard Hawks this weekend at Bosque River Ballpark. The Highlanders opened the three-game series with a 13-5 victory. Bailey Horn picked up the win on the mound for the Highlanders.

Howard began the scoring with one run in the top of the first. Trey Ochoa drew a lead-off walk and moved to second on a ground out by Caleb Kyle. A McLennan error brought Ochoa in to score. 

McLennan took the lead with three runs in the bottom of the second. Griffin Williams drew a lead-off walk, Mario Vela singled and George Callil walked to load the bases. Chris Roller followed with a single to score Williams and Vela. Callil then scored on a sacrifice fly by Joe Breaux.

The Highlanders added four runs in the third. Nic Motley singled and stole second. Chase Sortor and Williams both singled bringing Motley in to score. Sortor scored on a Howard error. Callil then doubled to score Williams, and Roller singled to score Callil.

The Hawks' final four runs came in the top of the fourth. Andrew Beck led off with a triple and Jonathan Arrieta was hit by the pitch. Colacecchi singled to score Beck. Robert Bullard and Reese O'Farrell both singled bringing Arrieta in to score. Ochoa then singled to score Colacecchi and Bullard.

McLennan added two runs in the fifth. Callil singled, Roller walked and Josh Breaux was hit by the pitch to load the bases. Griffin Paxton drew a walk bringing Callil in to score and Roller scored on a wild pitch.

Another two Highlander runs scored in the sixth as Vela doubled and scored on Callil's home run.

McLennan rounded out the scoring with two runs in the seventh as Paxton walked and Motley followed with a home run. 

"I liked a lot of what I saw today," head coach Mitch Thompson said. "It was good to get Horn back out there today as a starter, and he gave us five-plus innings of real competitive baseball. He probably could have gone a little deeper into the game, but we are trying to take care of his arm and make sure we are good with him pitch-count wise. He was in the zone and his attack of the zone was good, and he gave us a really nice outing. Then, Kyrell Miller did a nice job coming out of the bullpen. It was good to see him do that because we are obviously going to need him to be a force for us out of our bullpen."

"The bottom of our order was outstanding today: Callil, Vela, Williams and Cole Haring. Between the three of them, the seven-, eight- and nine-hole hitters scored eight runs, and gave us six hits and a couple walks. They were on base all day for the top half of our order, which was outstanding. Callil, our Aussie from Melbourne, Australia, was outstanding and had a 3-3 day with a home run and two walks, and was involved in two double plays. It was a great day for Callil and that was fun to see."

"We've got room to work; we've got room to improve. We misplayed some balls in the outfield today with the sun, the wind and the high sky, so we've got some things to keep getting better at, but we can do that. We will start off on that again tomorrow. This Howard team is a good team and tomorrow we play a doubleheader against them. We will get after it with Logan Freeman and Nick Urbantke on the mound."

The Highlanders and Hawks split Saturday's doubleheader.

McLennan took game one 13-3 with Logan Freeman picking up the five-inning run-rule victory on the mound. 

The Highlanders scored one run in the first as Chris Roller singled, moved to second on the walk of Joe Breaux, stole third and scored on a sacrifice fly by Nic Motley.

McLennan added three runs in the second. Cole Haring doubled, stole third and scored on a sacrifice fly by Mario Vela. George Callil doubled and scored on a double by Roller. Roller then scored on a triple by Breaux. 

Howard got on the board with two runs in the fourth. Andrew Beck singled and Nick Colacecchi walked. Both runners advanced on a groundout by Mason Peterson and scored on a double by Doug Facendo. 

The Highlanders responded with four runs in the bottom of the inning. Callil singled and scored on another double by Roller. Breaux followed with a double to score Roller, and Breaux scored on double by Brock Morrison. Morrison then scored on a triple by Motley.

The Hawks' final run came in the top of the fifth. Beck and Colacecchi both singled. Beck then scored on a single by Peterson.

McLennan sealed the run-rule with five runs in the bottom of the fifth. Jackson Nichols doubled and Haring drew a walk. Vela followed with a fielder's choice putting Haring out at second and moving Nichols to third. Callil singled to score Nichols. Vela and Callil both advanced a base on a wild pitch, and Roller walked to load the bases. Breaux doubled to score Vela and Callil. Roller then scored on a sacrifice fly by Morrison, and Breaux scored on a passed ball.

Howard defeated McLennan 7-5 in the nightcap with Nick Urbantke taking the loss on the mound. 

The Hawks scored a run in the second as Jonathan Arrieta singled and scored on a double by Facendo.

Howard added three runs in the fourth. Beck and Arrieta drew back-to-back walks. Facendo followed with a single to score Beck. Reese O'Farrell then tripled to score Arrieta and Facendo.

The Hawks extended their lead with three runs in the sixth. Beck singled and moved to second on a wild pitch. Facendo singled and Beck scored on a McLennan error. O'Farrell followed with a single to score Facendo. Grant Olson singled and Trey Ochoa doubled to score O'Farrell.

McLennan scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth as Griffin Williams, Nick Thornquist and Callil all walked and scored on a triple by Joe Breaux. 

The Highlanders added a run in the seventh as Haring doubled and scored on a Howard error.

McLennan rounded out the scoring with a run in the eighth. Callil walked and moved to second on a ground out by Roller. Breaux and Motley both singled bringing Callil in to score. 

"The split today gives us the series win over Howard. When you win the first two games though, you are never happy when game three ends up with the other team taking it," head coach Mitch Thompson said. "In today's first game, Freeman was really good for us and we swung the bats exceptionally well. We had double after double after double and lots of extra-base hits. We ended up having 10 extra-base hits in the game, eight doubles and two triples. Lots of guys had good games. Roller, Breaux and Callil were all outstanding offensively for us but Freeman was really good. He really bowed up and made some big pitches at big times to keep us ahead in the ballgame."

"In game two, Howard jumped out against us and was ahead 7-0 going into the bottom of the sixth inning. I'm real proud of the way our guys fought to get back in the game. We had several opportunities to actually take the lead and win it, but we had a couple balls that landed within a foot of the foul line that, if they landed fair – just one foot over, we would have won the ballgame. We give Howard credit; they threw some really nice arms at us and competed hard. Our guys competed hard too; we just didn't play well enough to get the win. You're not going to win a game when you end up having 13 strikeouts in a nine-inning ballgame. I give Howard's pitchers credit for that; they were outstanding and were really good pitchers. We've got to compete a little harder than that and do a little better before we get down 7-0."

"Callil is the really big highlight for the weekend. He started all three games and was 7-8 at the plate with two doubles, a home run, four RBIs, and he ended up scoring nine runs and drew four walks. He was on base 12 of 13 times this weekend. You can't do much better than that," Thompson said.

McLennan 13, Howard 5
Howard 100 400 000 – 5 11 2
McLennan 034 022 20x – 13 12 2
Parker Towns, Ryan Williams (3), Tristan Toms (5), Grant Landry (6), John Schreier (6) and Reese O'Farrell. Bailey Horn, Kyrell Miller (6), Garrett Doiron (9) and Nic Motley. WP: Horn; LP: Towns. Leading hitters – Howard: Trey Ochoa (1-4, 2 RBI), Andrew Beck (1-4, 3B), Nick Colacecchi (1-3, RBI), Robert Bullard (2-4, 3B), Reese O'Farrell (2-4, RBI), Tommy Sepulveda (1-1, 2B) and Hunter Mendenhall (1-1, 2B); McLennan: Chris Roller (2-5, 3 RBI), Joe Breaux (0-4, RBI), Griffin Paxton (1-2, RBI), Nic Motley (2-4, HR, 2 RBI), Griffin Williams (1-1, RBI), Mario Vela (2-5, 2B) and George Callil (3-3, 2B, HR, 3 RBI). Record: McLennan 13-2.

McLennan 13, Howard 3
Howard 000 21 – 3 8 0
McLennan 130 45 – 13 13 2
Denny Bentley, Matt Hansen (5), Luke Haynes (5) and Doug Facendo. Logan Freeman and Josh Breaux. WP: Freeman; LP: Bentley. Leading hitters – Howard: Robert Bullard (1-3, 2B), Andrew Beck (3-3), Mason Peterson (1-3, RBI) and Doug Facendo (1-3, 2B, 2 RBI); McLennan: Chris Roller (3-3, 2 2B, 2 RBI), Joe Breaux (3-3, 2 2B, 3B, 4 RBI), Brock Morrison (1-3, 2B, 2 RBI), Nic Motley (1-2, 3B, 2 RBI), Jackson Nichols (1-3, 2B), Cole Haring (1-2, 2B), Mario Vela (0-2, RBI) and George Callil (3-3, 2B, RBI). Record: McLennan 14-2.

Howard 7, McLennan 5
Howard 010 303 000 – 7 11 2
McLennan 000 003 110 – 5 7 1
Brandon Young, Shayne Nance (6), Tristan Tom (8), Chris Fearon (8) and Reese O'Farrell. Nick Urbantke, Hunter Spaeth (4), Nathan Gonzales (6), Palmer Wenzel (8) and Nick Thornquist. WP: Young; LP: Urbantke. Leading hitters – Howard: Trey Ochoa (2-5, 2B, RBI), Doug Facendo (4-4, 2B, 2 RBI) and Reese O'Farrell (2-4, 3B, 3 RBI); McLennan: Joe Breaux (3-5, 3B, 3 RBI) and Nic Motley (1-3, RBI). Record: McLennan 14-3.