Cody Pastorella
The Port Arthur News
NEDERLAND — NEDERLAND — The Nederland Bulldogs baseball team edged out C.E. King 4-2 in the consolation game of their annual tournament on Saturday afternoon.
Nederland sophomore pitcher Cole Lasalle earned the victory, giving up both runs on eight hits in six innings of work. To his credit, three of the eight hits were infield singles.
After the Bulldogs broke a 2-2 tie in the sixth with a pair of runs, Nick Cardenas came on for the save. C.E. King boarded its first two batters in the inning, using an error and a walk to do so.
Even with no one out and runners at second and third, Cardenas was able to wiggle out of that jam with a 5-to-3 ground out, a strike out and then fielded a come-backer to the mound for the final out of the game.
Cardenas, 2-for-4 with an RBI, also drove in Stephen Schlett to give the Dogs their 4-2 lead in the sixth.
Schlett was 2-for-4 with a single and a double. He drove in Andrew Williamson for the game's decisive run, giving Nederland a 3-2 advantage. He also knocked in Williamson in the fourth inning that put the Dogs up 2-1.
C.E. King responded with a run in the fifth, using one hit and an error to get Eloy Barela around the bases.
The Bulldogs trailed 1-0 from the first inning up until Williamson singled in Jacob Pitts from second base in the third inning. Williamson was 1-for-1 with two walks, an RBI, and two runs scored.
Nederland finished with a 3-2 record for the tournament and is now 6-4 on the season. The Dogs will return to action Thursday when they travel to Deer Park for a three-day tournament.
Nederland boss Cody Robbins said much was gained over the weekend, despite losing an 8-7 decision to West Brook and an eight-inning 8-5 loss to Bridge City on Friday.
"We made some errors and left too many on base yesterday (Friday) and even today (Saturday) but we got a lot of pitching in," he explained. "We were able to experiment with some things and we did a lot right. We looked pretty good at times. I thought we played a little better today and I thought Cole Lasalle did a great job."
Galveston Ball sinks Tribe, 12-7
BAYTOWN — The Port Neches-Groves Indians came up on the wrong end of a 12-7 slugfest against Galveston Ball on Saturday to wrap of the Baytown baseball tournament at Robert E. Lee High School.
The Indians took a 5-3 lead after plating four runs in the third inning, but Galveston all scored two in top of the fourth, two more in the fifth, added four in sixth and one more for good measure in the seventh.
Meanwhile, PN-G managed just two more runs, which came in the sixth inning when they were trailing 11-5.
With the loss, the Tribe falls to 5-2 on the season. They went 3-1 in Baytown.
Amir Jalali hit his third home run of the tournament in the loss to Galveston Ball. Hunter Knox also went yard while Spencer DeRon and Kane Benoit eached recorded a pair of singles. Jarren Freeman also had a single and chipped in with a double as well.
The Tribe combined for eight hits but the tail end of the pitching staff allowed 12. Colton Ward was the losing pitcher. He entered in the fourth inning and tallied 2.2 innings of work. Braden Gruscky logged the first three innings of the game and Alex Anderson came in for the seventh.
The Indians will continue their season Tuesday when they travel to Mont Belvieu for a 6 p.m. bout with the Barbers Hill Eagles.
