Long time rivals, the Big Sandy Wildcats and the Evadale Rebels, battled for the No. 1 seed in District 25-2A, splitting the two-game series.
Game 1 was in Evadale Tuesday night, and the Wildcats lost a tough one to the Rebels, 10-4. Big Sandy committed four errors that led to five unearned runs. The Rebels also hit two home runs.
Big Sandy starting pitcher Wyatt Lenox struggled through 1.1 innings. He labored to find the strike zone, allowing three earned runs on three walks and a hit. Ezekiel Angel pitched 4.1 innings, allowing only two earned runs on five hits and a walk.
Offensively, Angel went 1-for-3 with a double, walk, run, and an RBI. Gus Hardy went 2-for-3 and scored a run.
Game 2 was a turnaround for the Wildcats, as starter Corbin Cude was dominant against the Rebels. He pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing only four hits, a walk, and struck out six batters, lowering his ERA to 1.79 for the season.
Big Sandy got on the scoreboard in the second inning on an RBI-single by Trig Byrd down the right-field line, scoring Daniel Barker from second base. The Wildcats added another run in the fifth inning. They had the bases loaded with one out when Cude knocked in Lev Cox, putting the Wildcats up 2-0.
Evadale threatened in the seventh, starting the inning with back-to-back hits, but a ground ball and two strike outs ended the threat, giving the Wildcats a 2-0 win.
The bottom of the lineup came up big for the Wildcats. Lev Cox went 2-for-3 and scored a run. Daniel Barker went 1-for-3 with a double and a run. Trig Byrd went 1-for-3 with an RBI.
“That was a must-win for us and our guys knew that going into it," Big Sandy Head Coach Kasey Glover said. "Corbin (Cude, starting pitcher) came out with a different intensity than I’ve seen from him all year and it showed in his performance. It was a huge team effort and win for us, but the job isn’t finished yet.”
This week, the Wildcats face the Deweyville Pirates, Tuesday night in Big Sandy at 6 p.m. and Friday night in Deweyville at 6 p.m. If the Wildcats and the Rebels both win their last two games and end district in a tie, they will play a one-game playoff to determine the top seed. The game will be played Saturday, but the time and place is still to be determined.
