The Record Newspapers - Hometown News For Orange County, Texas

The much anticipated showdown between the Bridge City Cardinals and Silsbee Tigers certainly fell short of expectations as the BC cruised to a pair of lopsided victories and all but assured them of another district championship.

The Silsbee Tigers came to BC on Wednesday with high hopes and left later that night with a bruised ego as Senior Jacob Lemoine just absolutely dominated them in a two hit 13 strikeout performance that left little to the imagination. Lemoine racked up strikeouts in impressive fashion with a 90 plus mph fastball that lit up the radar guns for the dozen or so Major League scouts in attendance. Silsbee managed two hits all night and never advanced a runner past second base.

The Cardinal offense manufactured runs in the first and second innings and gave Lemoine a cushion to work with. In the third inning Cardinal Senior Mitchell Hubbard took matters into his own hands as he jumped all over a Silsbee fastball and sent it onto the roof of the batting cage beyond the left center field wall to give BC a 3-0 lead.

The Cardinals added more insurance runs in the sixth as Hunter Uzzle put the game away with a three run homer of his own to push the lead to 6-0. From there on it was just a formality as BC finished the game off with a final score of 6-0 and the all important out right lead in the district race.

The Cardinal nine didn’t have much time to celebrate the win from Wednesday as they took the trip to Silsbee on Friday for one more meeting with the Tigers. Junior Hayden Guidry took the mound for BC and picked up right where Jacob Lemoine left off, shutting out Silsbee. Guidry carved up the Tigers to the tune of 12 strikeouts while allowing four hits and again limiting Silsbee base runners to advance no farther than second base in an impressive 11-0 win.

Guidry’s curve ball kept the Tigers off balance all night as he threw it with confidence in just about any count. The Cardinal defense was as solid as ever while handling the few balls that were actually put in play.

Bridge City jumped out to a lead on the Tigers as they erupted for four runs in the second inning courtesy of the long ball.

Freshman Chase Shugart took advantage of his opportunity at the plate by blasting a three run home run to deep right center.

The cheering for Shugart had barely subsided as Hunter Uzzle took the very next pitch out of the park for a solo home run which put the Cardinals up 4-0.

BC continued the scoring barrage with four more runs in the fifth and three more in the sixth to finish off the Tigers in decisive fashion.

Mitchell Hubbard and Zach Smith had two RBI’s a piece as well to help pace the Cardinals offensively and give BC a two game lead in the district standings.

Bridge City has just three remaining district games before the playoff run begins. The Cardinals will play WOS at home, travel to Hampshire Fannett, and come back to BC for Senior Night against Orangefield. This club has the potential to be really special and a couple of statistics can help back that statement up. After seven district games the Cardinals have surrendered a grand total of two runs while scoring 55, and no that’s not a typo. In seven district games the pitching staff has a total of five shutouts. If the road to Austin is paved with pitching then the Cardinal fans have plenty to look forward to because these guys can flat out throw it.

Recapping other Orange County baseball action:

The LCM Bears met the Ozen Panthers in Beaumont on Tuesday, April 10 and had a few anxious moments.

Going into the top of the fourth inning the Panthers led 5-2. The Bears started a rally and scored five runs by the end of the game to go home winners 7-6. LCM is now in a three-way tie for second in district with Livingston and Nederland.

On Friday night, April 13, the Orangefield Bobcats and the West Orange-Stark Mustangs met on Ronnie Anderson Field. When the clawing and kicking was over the Bobcats had put their fangs and claws into the Mustangs’ hide. They went back across the bayou with a 16-5 win over the Mustangs.

At the bottom of the third inning, the Cats led 3-0. Three runs in the top of the fourth put them ahead 6-0. The fourth inning saw the Mustangs score one run. They would stay that way until a four run scoring in the bottom of the sixth would give them the five run total score for the game. The Bobcats continued to score in each inning, one run in the fifth, six in the sixth and three in their final time at bat in the seventh inning.

Jake Best led the Bobcat hitters with a home run, and two hits, resulting in four RBIs. Dustin Selman and Ryan Gunstream got three hits apiece. Jacob Brown hit twice, Braxton Smith, Austin Scales and Luke Johnson hit one time each.

Maurice Morris was the leader for the Mustangs with two singles, one double and one run scored. Grant Anderson, Jacob Finney, and Tavin Terrell each hit once and scored once. Finney and Terrel got RBI credit with one each. Henry Forward walked to first and got around the bases to score one run.

On the schedule for Friday, April 20, Orangefield will host the Hardin-Jefferson Hawks and the LCM Bears will have a visit from Livingston. The Bridge City Cardinals travel to Hamshire-Fannett and West Orange-Stark hosts Silsbee.