By John Loop
Staff Writer

Though the Southlake Dragons sat atop the district leader board, that didn’t stop the Cowboys from Coppell from showing they wouldn’t be defeated.

The Cowboys played outstanding, romping the Dragons 13-3. The game was called due to the mercy rule, which also happened recently against the Keller Indians.

Senior Craig Aikin homered in his first game back from injury.

“My ankle was feeling the best it ever has since my injury, Aikin said. “I owe it all to the trainers, especially Coach [Barry] Jones for getting me back out onto the field for such a big game.”

Senior Jake Elliott was on the hook for the win in a shortened game, lasting only five and a half innings.

The Dragons went quietly in the first inning, on a strikeout and two groundouts. In the Cowboy first, however, senior designated hitter Connor Foltyn doubled to bring in junior third baseman Tyler Jones to give Coppell an early lead, 1-0.

Southlake would counter that in the second frame with a smash over the left field wall by junior third baseman Kenny Hill to even the score at 1. Elliott recovered to strike out the last three batters of the inning after allowing a runner to reach first on a bloop single, which dropped right behind the third baseman Jones.

In the Cowboy third, Carroll starting pitcher Ben Leeper got a little out of control, loading the bases with two outs left. Leeper eventually worked his way out of the jam to end the threat.

In the Dragon fourth, Hill again got on with a single to centerfield, then advanced to third on an off throw by first baseman Jackson Cramer. After another Dragon was walked, Hill scored on a well placed bunt just out of the reach of the third baseman and junior catcher Matt Delaney to take the lead. The other runner eventually scored on a single to pull the Dragons ahead 3-1. Elliot induced a ground ball double play to close the inning down.

The Coppell fourth, however, blew the game wide open.

Senior second baseman Teddy Croft started the inning off with a leadoff walk. Then junior Jeremy Mortensen laced a double to move Croft to third. Delaney then doubled to drive in Croft, decreasing the deficit to one run.

Senior Ryan Marvin, a courtesy runner for the junior catcher, stole second, and he and Delaney came to the dugout after a double by senior centerfielder Clayton Dalrymple. Jones doubled in Dalrymple, junior shortstop Tyler Zabojnik singled, and senior Aikin, already o-2 for two groundouts, stepped into the batter’s box with a 5-3 lead.

“After my first two at bats, I got beat with a fastball, and I knew going into my third at bat I was not going to let him beat me again with the fastball,” Aikin said.

Aikin got ahead in the count and absolutely cranked a pitch over the wall in left field to make the score 8-3.

“He pitched me the same way that he did the first two at bats, started me off with a fastball, then he tried to get his curveball over for a strike, and ended up getting behind in the count 3-1, Aikin said. “I stepped out, thought to myself ‘swing hard, don’t miss this pitch’ and sure enough, he threw me a chest high fastball and I didn’t miss it.”

The dinger chased Leeper from the game, and the Dragons handed hopes of a comeback to junior Tyler Alexander.

In the fifth, the Dragons had a chance to narrow the deficit with runners on the corners and two outs. But Elliott got Hill to fly out to keep the score as it stood. The Cowboys added one more run on a Zabojnik single to extend the lead to 9-3.

Things got sloppy in the sixth. Alexander walked five Cowboys to bring in the last four Coppell runs and generate the mercy rule of a 13-3 victory. The win puts Coppell one game out of first place and making a roaring run towards the playoffs.

“Nothing is locked up yet,” Aikin said. “The top two teams, Fossil Ridge and Carroll, still have to play each other, so somebody is going to have to lose another game. We want a district title, but we know that anything can happen in the playoffs as long as we get in.”