Harris County uses big third inning to down Central

Harris County has had some growing pains over the early part of the 2016 baseball season, having lost a number of key starters off of last year’s team.

Coach Steve Westmoreland lamented on Friday the number of times his offense has left the bases loaded through the team’s first 10 games. Luckily for the Tigers, that wasn’t a big problem on Friday against Central.

Despite leaving three on base in the first inning, Harris County broke out for five runs in the third and went on to a 7-2 victory.

The team forced the Central pitchers into deep counts, were patient and finally started pushing some runs across in the third, all with two outs. Jacob Rovig flew out to start the inning and Hunter Hartshorne struck out. Eight straight batters then proceeded to reach base in a variety of ways.

Harry Rich hit a double and Matthew Becker followed with a walk. Tanner Maley walked to load the bases, and Jansen Hicks brought two runs across with a single. Ross Mckibben struck out, but reached first as the ball skipped off to the backstop. Carson Powell, Rhett Butler and Rovig each walked to force in runs, making the score 5-2 after three.

“Our plate discipline was really, really good tonight,” Westmoreland said. “They had a hard time throwing strikes, and so our guys worked the count. Something since last Thursday at Shaw, our plate discipline has been much better than it was earlier in the year.”

The other issue that has plagued the Tigers has been finishing off games, having lost three games after holding leads in the sixth inning. Again, that wasn’t a problem Friday.

Mckibben added a run in the fifth inning on a solo home run and Jerad Munoz plated another with a single in the sixth to make it 7-2.

“We were able to make some moves late in the game,” Westmoreland said. “We’re seeing gradual improvement. We’re still trying to figure out what some guys can and cannot do. I think we’re still trying to figure out how to play seven innings, but we’re getting closer.”

Harris County did leave the bases loaded in the first inning, which Westmoreland smiled about after the game. He said he had confidence in his team to rebound, though.

“We’ve got a lot of confidence in our guys,” he said. “We’re really, really inexperienced, but we’re 10 or 11 games in now, so that can’t be an excuse anymore.”

Becker finished the game 1-for-2 with an RBI, Munoz was 1-for-3 with two RBIs and Ross Mckibben was 2-for-3 with a home run and an RBI. Becker picked up the win on the mound for the Tigers.

Central got its two early runs via a solo homer by Jackson Cook in the second inning and an RBI single by Evan Baber in the third. Baber finished 2-for-3 with the RBI, and Cook was 1-for-3 with the homer and the RBI.

This story was originally published March 18, 2016 at 9:49 PM with the headline "Harris County uses big third inning to down Central."