The stands were more packed than normal, at least to Coppell coach Ryan Howard. A combination of Teacher Appreciation Night, a matchup between the second and third place teams in District 6-6A and the final home game of the season resulted in a crowd bearing more resemblance to a normal school year. 

It provided the backtrack to the baseball team’s 11-7 victory against Flower Mound last night at the Coppell ISD Baseball/Softball Complex. 

“It was the best environment we’ve had all year, and hopefully we can keep it going into the playoffs,” Howard said. “The fans are fantastic, we appreciate the support, the players appreciate it more than anybody would know. It’s a lot more fun and a lot more exciting when you have the stands full.”

Flower Mound struggled on the mound, beginning with senior Jack Arthur, who was relieved in the first inning by junior Tristan Duke, who was relieved in the second inning by senior Coleman Schmidt. Junior Spencer Neill would relieve Schmidt in the third inning after he, Duke and Arthur collectively surrendered eight runs. Neill would remain until the bottom of the sixth before junior Beau Distel would relieve him, the score 11-6. 

“We did a great job of jumping on guys early,” Howard said. “When they made mistakes, we made sure we capitalized on them, which caused them to get into their bullpen early. We had a couple big two-out hits that were daggers and took the wind out of them, but that’s a great team, and he’s got a lot of good arms. If one of them isn’t doing good, he’s got plenty of others who can come in and fill in that role.”

Though the Jaguars scored the first run of the night on an RBI single from senior first baseman Jayden Chatman to score senior second baseman Austin Russell in the top of the first inning, Coppell responded in the bottom with five runs on a pitching error, an ground rule double from senior center fielder Tony Vernars and two RBI singles (from senior first baseman David Jeon to score senior left fielder Ryan Walker and sophomore catcher Bradley Castillo to score senior Vernars). 

“It was awesome,” Vernars said. “We always talk about putting the pressure on them early, and we did that today. I’m sure it spooked them, and then we just had to hold onto it.”

Though Flower Mound was able to score five runs in the second inning, it would only score once more the rest of the game in the seventh. Coppell, meanwhile, scored three runs in the second, two in the third and one in the fifth. 

“Our team hung in there,” Howard said. “We faced some adversity early. We were able to get on them offensively, but that’s a great hitting team, and they were able to come and bounce back. We were able to withstand it and start a new game in the third.”

Coppell is one game behind Flower Mound Marcus in District 6-6A standings with one more district game to play. The Cowboys travel to Flower Mound to end the series and district season on Friday at 7 p.m.

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