THRALL — Hayden Heselmeyer knocked out three hits and Weston Smiley drove in three runs on a pair of hits to lead the Thrall Tigers (4-0-1) to an 8-2 win over the Moody Bearcats Tuesday night.
Thrall spotted the Bearcats a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Moody took advantage of a pair of walks and a single off Tiger starting pitcher Anthony Sandoval. But, the Tigers bounced back in the bottom half of the inning with a pair of runs. Ty Bradford scored the first run of the game for Thrall on an error, and Heselmeyer scored on a wild pitch after hitting a triple to centerfield.
The Tigers added another pair of runs in the bottom of the third inning. Maverick McAllister drew a one-out walk, and Heselmeyer gave the Tigers a pair of baserunners after being hit by a pitch. With two outs, Sandoval hit a routine grounder, but the Moody second baseman couldn’t handle the ball, allowing both runners to score and giving the Tigers a 4-1 lead.
Thrall pushed three more runs across in the fifth inning. Heselmeyer singled to lead off the inning and Jayden Rodriguez drew a walk to put two runners on with no outs. Sandoval doubled to left to drive in one run, and Smiley’s double to center drove in Rodriguez and Sandoval to give the Tigers a 7-1 advantage.
After Moody trimmed the lead to 7-2 in the top of the sixth, the Tigers scored their final run of the night in the bottom of that inning. Smiley’s single to left scored Rodriguez, who had walked earlier in the inning, making the final 8-2.
Thrall was at the Rogers tournament beginning Friday and will finish tournament play on Saturday.
