Cleburne sweeps Arlington Seguin to move to 3-1 in district

The Cleburne Yellow Jackets moved to 3-1 in District 8-5A play with a 22-0 win in four innings Thursday night over Arlington Seguin.

Cleburne scored its 22 runs on 14 walks, 11 hits and three hit-by-pitches in a game that was delayed 1 hour and 28 minutes due to lightning.

Arlington Seguin actually started the game on a positive note when Justin Santiago hit a leadoff single on the first pitch he saw. But it all went downhill from there for the Cougars.

Arlington Seguin's second batter, starting pitcher Tristan McGee, got hit on his hand by a pitch. While it put two runners on base with no outs, it proved to be a costly moment in the game for the Cougars as McGee, clearly affected by the hit-by-pitch, was only able to throw 14 pitches before moving to second base.

And the other pitchers Arlington Seguin trotted to the mound weren't able to consistently hit the strike zone, resulting in walk after walk. Arlington Seguin pitchers threw 58 strikes and 86 balls. At one point in the first inning, the Cougars walked four straight batters and five out of six. 

After putting the first two Cougar batters on base, Cleburne freshman pitcher Malachi Cunningham got a strikeout then drew a ground ball to sophomore third baseman Vincent Martinez, who touched third and threw a rocket to first base for the inning-ending double play.

In the home half of the first inning, the Jackets plated nine runs on two hits, eight walks, two hit-by-pitches and one error. Of the 15 batters Cleburne sent to the plate in the first inning, 10 either drew a walk or was hit by a pitch.

Cleburne added three more runs in the second inning and then scored 10 runs in the third inning.

Cunningham allowed just one hit with four walks with six strikeouts in a four-inning complete-game shutout in his first district start on the mound.

Falon Trevino led the Jackets offensively with a 4-for-4 day that included three RBIs and two runs.

Cunningham was 1-for-3 with three RBIs, three runs and two walks, Ethan Polasek drew three walks with one RBI, Zack Moore was 1-for-1 with three walks and four runs, Ethan Ainsworth was 1-for-1 with two runs and one RBI, and pinch-hitter Esteven Olmos was 1-for-1 with a three-run triple, one walk and two runs.

The Jackets are scheduled to visit Crowley at 7 p.m. Saturday in a non-district game. Cleburne will meet Joshua in District 8-5A action next week.