THRALL — Salado brought back key returners from a team that advanced to the fourth round of the playoffs last year. The Eagles hit the halfway point Friday of what they hope is a similar streak this spring.
Owen Curtis tossed a one-hitter while receiving ample run support in a dominating 19-0 run-rule win in Game 1, and Kannon Baird fired a three-hitter to help Salado to a 10-0 run-rule victory in Game 2 as Salado swept overmatched Caldwell in the teams’ Class 4A best-of-three area playoff series.
The wins pushed the Eagles (21-9-1) into next week’s regional semifinals where they will face Little Cypress-Mauriceville or Liberty.
Salado left no doubt as to the opener’s outcome after jumping ahead by double digits in the second inning and never looking back. The Eagles followed the script again in Game 2, though not to the same degree.
Brody Cole’s two-out double cleared Caden Schluens’ head in center field in the bottom of the first of the end-cap and brought across Curtis (walk) and Brayden Naegele (single) for a lead that stood the rest of the way. Ethan Robledo followed with an RBI single up the middle to put the Eagles up 3-0.
With Baird locked in from the start — he faced the minimum through the first four innings — Salado tacked on three more in the third with an Aezea Martinez RBI single and Jace Light sacrifice fly. Cole also scored on a double-steal after being hit by a pitch from Caldwell (18-11) starter Colby Maresh to double the gap to 6-0.
Outside of Ryan See’s leadoff single in the second, the Hornets got nothing else off Baird until See singled again to start the fifth. By then the Eagles’ advantage had swelled to 10-0 after they pushed across four runs in the fourth with Curtis and Cole each contributing run-scoring singles. Naegele, who reached on an error, scored the run-rule clinching run when he slid across home on another double-steal to push the margin to 10-0.
Baird then locked down the win by pitching around See’s single and another single from Hays Beavers, getting the final two outs on strikeouts, including catching Preston Supak looking to send the Eagles to the regional semifinals for the second year in a row.
Baird struck out nine and walked none in his complete game while BJ Amann (2-for-3) and Cole (2-for-2) led Salado’s nine-hit effort in Game 2.
Just about everything that could go right did for the Eagles in the opener.
Salado’s lineup was cooking from the get-go, batting around right away to help the Eagles build a five-run cushion before starter Curtis had thrown a pitch.
After a 1-2-3 bottom of the first, Salado then ripped off an even bigger bounty in the second, pushing across nine runs while sending 13 batters to the plate despite getting just three hits. When the dust had settled, the Eagles held a comfortable 14-0 advantage.
Naegele, Robledo and Light each produced RBI doubles in Salado’s initial burst, which Landen Noske (hit by pitch) and Curtis (walk) kick-started as Caldwell starter Schluens struggled with his command.
The Hornets’ wildness lingered into the next frame, when three Caldwell pitchers combined to walk five and hit two batters and all nine Salado batters reached and scored — with courtesy runner Cash Robinson filling in for Curtis on the bases.
Robledo’s two-run single through the left side chased Schluens — who walked four and hit two batters in 1 1/3 innings — before Chase Faust entered for the Hornets and walked all three batters he faced. Light, Noske, Curtis, Cole and Amann also had RBIs in the onslaught.
Though Salado continued to pile on — notching runs in each inning but the fifth — Curtis already had plenty to work with, and Caldwell never made it close as the hard-throwing right-hander kept the Hornets hitters guessing.
Schluens’ two-out, line drive single to left in the third marked Caldwell’s only hit off Curtis, but the Hornets left the bases loaded when Coy Becka flied out to deep right as Curtis retired the final seven batters he faced to seal the outcome.
Cole singled and scored in the third then knocked a two-run double into the right field corner as the Eagles added four more runs in the fourth. It marked the fourth double of the game for Salado, which totaled 10 hits, receiving two apiece from Cole (2-for-2, two walks, four runs, three RBIs), Amann (2-for-4, two runs, RBI) and Robledo (2-for-4, two runs, three RBIs).
Caldwell used four pitchers in the five-inning affair during which it walked nine Salado batters and hit three more. Curtis went the distance for the Eagles while striking out six and walking two.
