(Hallettsville) — The Needville Blue Jays jumped on the Navarro Panthers early to win game one of their Class 4A Region IV Area round series, 9-3 on Thursday night in Hallettsville.
Needville scored the first five runs of the ball game in the top of the first inning. After a ground out to start the game, the Blue Jays saw their next four batters reach base as they took a 3-0 lead. A base hit by Diego Ochoa brought home two runs. Following a flyout, Drew McRae launched a two-run homer over the left field wall to make the score 5-0.
The Panthers would respond in the bottom of the frame with two runs of their own. Colt Brown reached on an error on the third baseman with Austin Davidson at third and Landun Taylor at second. Davidson easily scored on the errant throw while Taylor never stopped running and scored sliding in head first at home plate.
Needville scratched a run across in the second and scored three more in the fifth. Navarro would get a run in the bottom of the sixth thanks to Brown who would score after leading off the inning with a double.
Brown was tagged with the loss on the hill for the Panthers who will try to even the best-of-three series in game two and keep their season alive. The Blue Jays, the champions of District 25-4A, have won all three of their playoff games after sweeping Iowa Colony in the first round.
Friday’s game two is scheduled for 7 p.m. in La Grange. A game three, if necessary, will be held on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. in Hallettsville.
We will have all the games on KWED. Our Navarro baseball pregame coverage starts at 6:45 p.m. on Friday with first pitch at 7 O’clock on AM 1580 and streaming at SeguinToday.com.