The McLennan Highlanders dropped the series finale with the Navarro Bulldogs 4-3 this afternoon in Corsicana. Levi David took the loss on the mound for the Highlanders.
Navarro took the early lead with two runs in the bottom of the second inning. Beau Orlando was hit by the pitch to lead off the inning and Tim Bechtold singled. Noah Menchaca followed with a double to score Orlando and Bechtold.
Dylan Neuse’s solo home run in the top of the third put McLennan on the board.
The Bulldogs added two runs in the third inning. Kalen Hammer reached first safely on an error and scored on a double by Josh Ragan. Ragan then advanced to third on an overthrow and scored on a single by Scott Hastings.
The Highlanders added a run in the sixth as Thomas Santos doubled and scored on a single by Aidan Shepardson.
McLennan’s final run came in the seventh. Keaton Milford doubled and Nick Thornquist walked. Santos followed with a single to score Milford.
“Today was a close ballgame and both teams pitched the ball pretty well. We created a few more opportunities for Navarro’s offensive than they did for us, so I give their pitchers credit. They kept us off balance,” head coach Mitch Thompson said.
“We just didn’t have a really good game plan offensively today. We didn’t do a good job of getting runners in once they got into scoring position. We just had too many strikeouts and not enough really competitive at-bats. As a coach, I take that on myself. That’s something we’ve got to be better at. Obviously, we’ve got to get to work and get back to doing things right,” Thompson said.
“We had a lot of guys that threw the ball well for us on the mound, but in the end we just didn’t get enough hits and had too many opportunities missed. We tried to play catch up the entire ballgame and just ended up a run short,” Thompson said.
