Thorndale’s playoff run comes to end
The Thorndale Bulldogs baseball team saw their playoff run end at the hands of the Ganado Indians in the Regional Semifinals last week.
Thorndale was defeated by Ganado in the series 2-1 to bring their fantastic season to an end.
Game 1 took place on Wednesday, May 22, in Hallettsville, and Thorndale lost 4-3.
Jaxon Eschberger started on the mound for Thorndale. He allowed four runs (zero earned) on four hits over six innings, walking four and striking out seven.
“We just told them that’s not them, that’s uncharacteristic of us,” Coach Kelly Kuhl said. “Normally we have good pitching and hang our hats on that and defense. Jaxon threw well, he only had four walks but those walks kind of snowballed on each other and the errors did too. That was probably the worst game we played and we looked at the board and lost by one. So, we just told them to get focused and come back and we’re going to go sweep this thing.”
The Bulldogs refocused on Thursday for game 2 in Bastrop and handily defeated the Indians 12-1 in five innings taking advantage of the 10-run rule. Thorndale got on the scoreboard fast with six runs in the first inning to take an early 6-0 lead.
Three of those runs came from three consecutive RBI singles by Jaxon Eschberger, Brenson Beran, and Kade Becker. The other three runs were scored on RBI singles from Kaden Kovar and Jayden Clawson and an RBI fielders choice groundout by Gunner Ferguson.
Thorndale scored one run in the second inning, Ganado scored one in the top of the third inning, then Thorndale responded with four more runs in the bottom of the third inning for a commanding 11-1 lead. The Bulldogs had great patience at the plate in the third inning with all four runs coming from bases loaded walks. Those walks were by Nathan Grimm, Jaxon Eschberger, Brenson Beran, and Kade Becker. The Bulldogs collected 11 hits in the game. Brenson Beran went 2-for-2 at the plate as he led the team with three runs batted in. The Bulldogs offense showed great vision at the plate, tallying seven walks.
Gunner Ferguson started the game for Thorndale. The starter surrendered five hits and one run over five innings, striking out three and walking one.
Game 3 took place in Hallettsville and Thorndale fell to Ganado 12-2 in five innings to end their season.