H.S. baseball: Argyle finishes off Abilene Wylie in region semifinals

For much of the season and throughout the playoffs, Wylie has had a penchant for scoring runs in bunches. Yet for the most part in the Bulldogs’ Region I-5A semifinal baseball series against Arygle, the bats went silent at big moments.

The Eagles, however, suffered no offensive shortage, and they've got good pitching, too.

Park Prater drove in five runs, and Reid Ross threw five strong innings as Argyle finished off Wylie with an 11-3 victory Friday at ACU’s Crutcher Scott Field.

The Eagles (32-9-2), who won the opener 7-1 on Thursday in Southlake, advance to play either Lubbock-Cooper or Grapevine in the region finals next week.

Argyle, a Class 4A state finalist last year, will play in a region final for the fourth consecutive year. Stephenville beat the Eagles in the Region I-4A final in 2021, while Argyle won 4A state titles in 2018-19. COVID-19 wiped out the 2020 season.

Wylie (23-13-1), which won 4A state titles in 2016 and 2017, ends its season in the region semifinals for the third consecutive year. Aledo swept the Bulldogs the previous two seasons. Wylie made the jump to 5A in 2019.

“I’m proud of these kids,” Wylie coach Grant Martin said. “I’m proud of the season we had. I wish we were still playing, but hat’s off to them. They did a great job today. We had some opportunities early, and we just didn’t take advantage of them.”

Eagles soar early

After a thunderstorm delayed the game's scheduled 1 p.m. start by 1½ hours, Argyle made a little thunder of its own in a five-run second inning.

Alex D’Angelo led off the inning with a single and scored on Micah Roberts’ double. Conor Lillis singled, and Wylie starter Carter Beard hit Hunter Sandifer with a pitch – loading the bases with still no outs. Prater followed with a three-run triple, and he scored on Brayden Rosckes’ sacrifice fly to center.

Wylie had a chance to answer with a big inning.

Collin Bruning coaxed a leadoff walk, and Brady Clark hit a one-out single. K.J. Long walked, loading the bases. Bruning scored on Braden Regala’s sacrifice fly to right. Ross then got Colby Garrett to ground out to third.

Through the first two innings, the Bulldogs left four runners stranded – two in scoring position. Garrett (single) and Reese Borho (walk) both reached with one out in the first, but Ross got consecutive strike outs.

“I think more than anything we had to keep it close,” Martin said. “It kind of got out of hand, and for us … we just didn’t string enough hits together. When we had a chance and got guys on, we just didn’t execute. We hit right at them, and against a team like this, if you do that, they’re just going to throw it across (the field) and make a play. They’re very good defensively.”

Argyle pours it on

It remained a 5-1 game until Argyle broke it open with a three-run sixth.

D’Angelo was hit by a pitch, stole second and, with one out, beat the throw to third on Lillis’ ground ball to short. Lillis intentionally got himself in a rundown, hoping D’Angelo could score – and that’s exactly what happened. Lillis also ended up safe at second on the throw home.

Prater capped the inning with a two-run home run to right field with two outs in the inning for an 8-1 lead.

Wylie got two runs in the bottom of the inning.

Tye Briscoe was hit by a pitch, and Hays Sipe reached on an infield hit. Luke Najera walked, loading the bases. Lillis, who took over in relief to start the sixth, nearly got out of it unscathed. He struck out Clark looking, but Briscoe scored on a wild pitch. Long then hit an RBI single.

The Eagles added three more runs in the seventh.

Colton Roquemore, whose two-out, three-run double capped a five-run sixth the night before, reached on a leadoff error. J.C. Davis walked, and Grady Emerson chased Roquemore home with a single. Davis scored on D’Angelo’s ground out to first, and Roberts capped the inning with an RBI single.

Ross got the win, allowing a run on three hits. He struck out three and walked four in five innings. Lillis gave up two runs on two hits in an inning of work. He struck out two and walked one. Barron Mannis pitched a scoreless seventh. He allowed a hit, struck out one and walked one.

Beard took the loss, surrendering six runs on six hits. He struck out two and walked one. Garrett allowed five runs on two hits and a walk in an inning. Briscoe, who took over in the seventh after the first three batters reached against Garrett, got the final three outs – two on strikeouts. He also gave up a hit.

Wylie left nine runners stranded – four in scoring position.

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Argyle sweeps Abilene Wylie in Region I-5A baseball semifinals