Aledo rallies for 4-3 win over Southlake Carroll in 5A Texas baseball
SOUTHLAKE, Texas - Aledo spoiled Southlake Carroll's senior night with a 4-3 come-from-behind victory on Friday night.
Southlake (18-7), ranked No. 4 in the SBLive Texas Top 25, looked they were going to cruise to victory. They built a 3-0 lead after three innings and senior Griffin Herring was dominant on the mound.
But the Bearcats (14-7) had other plans.
“I just told them to keep battling, try to have at good bats,” Aledo head coach Chad Berry said. “I felt like of course early in the game we didn’t. I tip my hat to Griffin Herring, he’s a really good pitcher and he made us look silly at times. But I just kept telling them ‘keep battling,’ see what happens.”
When Herring exited, the Bearcats pounced. They scored three runs in the top of the seventh to tie the game at 3-3.
“I think we had been kind of pressing to that point,” said Berry. “Once we got behind I think we were kinda tight, so I pinch-hit Ethan (Hodo) to start the 7th inning for a kid that’s been starting all year just to try to switch things up. We were able to get something going there and strung a couple of hits together and away we went.”
Aledo soon found themselves in a position to take the lead in the top of the 8th, with runners on second and third. A pop fly to first ended the inning, but the Bearcats got another chance in the 10th inning. This time, the Bearcats converted, taking a 4-3 lead.
The Dragons went down in order in the bottom of the 10th to end the game.
Reliever Preston Clark kept Aledo in the game with seven impressive innings on the mound. He came on in the third inning and gave up just three hits and two runs.
Heading into the 10th inning, coach Berry delivered a strong message to his team.
“I said Preston wasn’t going back out. He had 75 pitches. For a relief pitcher 75 pitches is a lot. I said ‘guys he’s done his job, he’s earned a chance to get a win tonight.’”
Max Reyes led Southlake at the plate with a triple, a single and a run scored. Austin Page had an RBI double and Cole Bedwell singled and scored twice.
Max Belyeu and Brooks Dwinell each had two hits for Aledo. Adrian Guzman drove in two runs and Cade Pulido roped an RBI double.
The Bearcats will take on the Trinity Trojans Saturday night at home.
