By Alex Nicoll
Sports Writer
With a combined 18 strikeouts between the two pitchers, the Coppell vs. Flower Mound game proved to be a pitcher’s duel. The Cowboys came out on top squeaking past with a 2-0 victory.
Senior Jake Elliott set the tone early tonight striking out the first two batters and forcing the third to fly-out to first baseman Jackson Cramer.
Marcus junior pitcher Conner Dotson struggled in the first giving up a hit to senior third baseman Tyler Jones and having his second baseman senior Ryan Vaughn drop an infield-fly that allowed senior catcher Matt Delaney to get on base. He got out of the inning by striking out two and picking off Delaney from first.
Tension was high already at the beginning of the game with the umpire warning the Marcus bench about arguing his calls.
Elliott quickly dealt with the next two batters in the top of the second with two straight strikeouts. Marcus senior designated hitter Blake Bitter only went to bat one time in the game when a wild ball that he swung at, hit him in the hand causing an immediate painful reaction. He attempted to come back to the plate and finished the at-bat but had no success.
In the bottom of the second with the score still standing at zero apiece, Dotson had a couple of strikeouts and only one walk to set down the side.
The third was also a quiet inning with nobody making any attempt to taking the lead.
The first hit for the Marauders came in the fourth when Elliott gave up a single through the right field eye to Vaughn. Two batters later, Elliott forced a double play off a sacrifice bunt that let’s just say did not go the way senior Matt Holcolmbe wanted.
Coppell came up with the first run in the fourth behind an RBI single from senior left fielder Daniel Day that scored Jones from second.
With Coppell up 1-0 over Marcus, Elliott had insurance that allowed him to be more comfortable with his pitches.
“[His RBI] allowed me to attack the hitters and pitch to the corners knowing I had the lead,” Elliott said.
He had a close call in the fifth when the Marauders loaded the bases up with a walk from pinch-hitter Spencer Gil and singles from two seniors, left fielder Logan Sepanek and center fielder Dylan Rogers. Elliott escaped the inning from a little help from jones by retiring the next batter off a grounder to third.
“I was just focused on the hitter because that’s what I have to do as a pitcher,” Elliott said. “I have to go pitch-to-pitch.”
The pitching performance continued on with Elliott striking out the side in the sixth and keeping Marcus off the base-paths. The Cowboys added more fuel to its lead in the bottom of the sixth, with senior first baseman Jackson Cramer leading off the inning with a walk.
Senior designated hitter Jake Plotsky had a sacrifice bunt to move Cramer to single. Senior center fielder batted Cramer in off a one-out single to put the Cowboys up 2-0.
Coppell proved that it did not need to go to bat again as Elliott closed out the top half of the seventh behind strong fielding to get the complete game shut-out to topple the mighty Marauders and force them to lose their second game of the year.
Elliott threw a gem of a game only surrendering four hits, two walks, and striking out 10.
“God blessed me with gifts in baseball and I just give it back to Him because it’s Him working through me,” Elliott said.
