EAGLES SOAR IN GAME 1 | Tatum trails early, then beats Winnsboro, 5-1; hosts game two Friday
WINNSBORO – Tatum faced early adversity, but defense and Carson Gonzalez were more than enough to send the 16-3A champion Eagles to a 5-1 victory over Winnsboro and a 1-0 edge in its best-of-three Class 3A area baseball playoff on Wednesday night at the Ballpark at Raiderland.
Game two shifts to Tatum on Friday, beginning at 5 p.m. If a deciding third game is necessary it will follow about 30 minutes after the conclusion of the second game.
With the win, the Eagles are 19-9, while the loss snapped a six-game Winnsboro win streak and the Raiders, now 24-7-1, had won 10 of their last 12 games.
Gonzalez, a senior right-hander, was certainly up to the task, earning his ninth win of the season on the mound.
“Carson did an excellent job overcoming early adversity,” said Tatum coach Dustin Russell. “This is what he’s done in his last several starts, making pitch-to-pitch adjustments. We were able to make the plays and battle back and that’s always good to see.”
Gonzalez used a good mix between his fastball and curve to limit the 13-3A Raiders, who finished second in the district behind Harmony, to just a run on three hits. He threw 103 pitches, striking out four and walking just three.
The run and one of those hits came in the first inning as Chayne Tedford led off with a single to center field. A couple of Eagle errors led to Tedford giving Winnsboro a 1-0 lead. They would have had more if not for Tatum shortstop Cooper Whiteus’ diving stop of a sharply hit Reed James liner for the third out with runners on first and second base.
“I had a job to do and I had to get it done,” said Gonzalez, the star of the game for his work not only on the mound, but offensively, going 3-for-4 with three doubles and four RBI.
Daxon Worley, the Winnsboro starting pitcher, shouldered the loss. He worked 4-2/3 innings, allowing three runs on five hits and walked one. Skeet Brumley came on in relief, giving up three hits and two runs. He also walked three. Braden Sacrey pitched the final 1-1/3 innings and walked two Eagle batters.
Joining Gonzalez with hits for the Eagles were Whiteus (1-for-4), Grant Adock (1-for-4), Cayden Tatum (1-for-4), Ashby Anthony (1-for-4) and Brody Downs (1-for-3).
Trailing 1-0, after two innings of three up and three down, Tatum’s Anthony delivered the first of five singles in the game to lead off the third inning. Downs walked and Kohen Kiefer sacrificed both runners up a base. With two outs, Gonzalez then lashed a hanging curve to the fence in left field to score Anthony and Downs, to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead.
Tatum would add a run in the fifth as Whiteus singled with two outs, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on Gonzalez’s second double of the contest, extending the Eagles lead to 3-1.
Tatum would add on with two more runs in the sixth, taking advantage of a leadoff walk to Cody Hines, followed by a single and a walk with Hines scoring as Whiteus reached on a fielder’s choice. Downs then scored on another Gonzalez double to the outfield.
The Eagles stranded seven baserunners, five of them in scoring position, while Winnsboro left five on with two of those in scoring position.