The Celina Bobcats beat the Pleasant Grove Hawks 5-3 in game 1 of their regional semifinal playoff series win Winnsboro, Tx., Wednesday. The game was played in front of a massive crowd of over 1,000 fans.
Pleasant Grove got off to a 3-0 lead in the first inning on a 3-run home run by J.M. Long. It was Long’s second home run of the year. Long is committed to Texas Tech.
After the Hawks built an early lead, the Bobcats scored 5 unanswered runs.
Both starting pitchers pitched complete games. Celina’s Noah Bentley (9-2) who is committed to Oklahoma allowed 3 runs on 5 hits, striking out 5 and walking two. Hawks freshman Hunter Rose (8-2) allowed 5 runs on 8 hits, striking out 6 and walking one. Rose is committed to Arkansas.
RJ Ruais led Bobcat hitters by going 2-for-4 with a triple, double, RBI and a run scored. Ruais is committed to Baylor.
Pleasant Grove’s Brenton Clark who is committed to Arkansas was 1-for-3 with a run scored. Jarret Halter was 1-for-3 with a run scored. Rose was 1-for-2 and Jace Elrod was 1-for-3.
Hawks head coach Riley Fincher said Celina capitalized on their mistakes
“There were some mistakes we had early in the game that we can’t have when we play good teams like that,” Riley Fincher, Pleasant Grove Hawks head baseball coach said. “They capitalized on it. We love our team. We have faith in our team. We’ll come out tomorrow evening and our team will fight.”
Celina head coach Troy McCartney said his team responded well to the Hawks fast start
Next
Pleasant Grove (29-6-1) will play Celina (34-4) in game 2 of their series tonight (Thursday) at 7 p.m. in Winnsboro. The first ptich will be at 7 p.m. the game will be broadcast live on 94.1 FM ESPN-Texarkana.