Bobcats nip Kaplan 2-0 in pitchers’ duel

What a difference a day makes.
After putting away Kaplan 18-5 in five innings Tuesday evening, The Erath Bobcats had to scratch and claw to escape with a 2-0 win in the rematch Thursday.
Erath’s Ross Granger and Kaplan’s Rhett Gaspard had great stuff throughout the game, but the Bobcat’s squeaked out two runs in the fifth inning to get the win and extend its winning streak to two games.
“I loved this ballgame,” said Erath head coach David Jordan. “It wasn’t the offense that we wanted, but that guy (Gaspard) could shut a lot of people down. He’s tough to figure out. You don’t like to talk about adjustments too early in the game, but after the fourth I thought it wasn’t working so I told guys to move up in the box.
“Great job by Gaspard; he was very impressive. It was a great job by their team. We scored 18 Tuesday and we came and scored two in the fifth and that was it. That’s more Erath baseball right there; great pitching, no errors on defense and keep the pressure on them.”
Granger had a complete game one-hit performance and Gaspard held the Bobcats to two hits. With a runner on second, Erath’s Tyler Touchet hit a dribbler down the first-base line in the fifth and with an error on the throw by Gaspard, the Bobcats scored their first run.
Third baseman Bren Faulk doubled to right field to score Touchet one batter later to give Erath the 2-0 cushion.
Designated hitter Drew Primeaux picked up the other Bobcat hit. Before the two wins against the Pirates, Erath had suffered a three-game losing streak, including two games against Notre Dame to open district play.
“I’m very proud of them,” Jordan said. “It’s been a while since we’ve lost three games in a row. We’ve already lost more district games this year than we did the last two years combined, but that was to a very good Notre Dame team. We were right there. A pitch here a swing there we could have beat them twice.”
The Bobcats are currently behind the Pios and the North Vermilion Patriots in the standings with two games against North Vermilion coming up April 21 and 23.
The situation is not ideal, but Jordan said he believes his team still has a good shot of taking the district crown.
“When we look at our goals, one of them is a district championship,” he said. “We still kind of control our destiny. If we win out and Notre Dame should win out, we’re co-champs because it’s not head-to-head in our district. We feel like we control our destiny even though we have the two losses. We have four games left and if we pitch better and get some timely hits. We feel like we have just as good a shot as anyone of winning it. We’re definitely behind the eight ball, but if we continue to improve, I feel like we have a shot.”
The Bobcats look to keep their win streak alive when they host West St. Mary Tuesday. The first pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.