GRANGER — The Thrall Tigers (16-7-1 overall, 9-2 District 27-2A) bounced back from back-to-back losses to blank the Granger Lions (3-18, 1-10) 8-0 Saturday. The Tigers made the most of their four hits and took advantage of eight Granger errors to end their twogame slide.
Weston Smiley got things started for the Tigers, scoring on a dropped third-strike call to Ty Matthews in the top of the second. Carson Ball came home off a Granger miscue that pushed the lead to 2-0, and a second Lion error allowed Mathews to cross the plate for a 3-0 Tiger lead after two innings.
Ty Bradford opened Thrall’s half of the third with a walk and moved to third on a steal and a wild pitch. He raced home on a ground out by Smiley to give Thrall a 4-0 advantage.
The Tigers tallied two more runs in the fourth inning. Jack Watson doubled to left to open the inning and scored on Hayden Heselmeyer’s single to left. With two outs, Jaden Rodriguez hit a routine grounder to the Granger shortstop, who had trouble handling the ball which allowed Heselmeyer to score to push the Tigers’ lead to 6-0. Thrall added runs in each of the sixth and seventh innings to seal the victory.
Jack Gustafson picked up the win. He went four and two-thirds innings, allowing two Lion hits. He also struck out three.
Thrall will be back in action on Wednesday when they travel to Rosebud-Lott. The Cougars will enter this matchup with an 11-11 overall record and are 7-4 in district play, two games back of the Tigers. Thrall won the first meeting 12-9.
