Friendswood beat Lamar Consolidated 4 3 in game one of the best of three series at Cougar Field. Friendswood’s win was aided by costly mistakes and errors. Matt McLaren led off the bottom of the first with a walk. He was awarded first base after being hit by a pitch. McLaren then stole second base, Cody Bergeson hit a shot to third that bounce right at the bag and took a wicked hop into Ryan Haas’s glove. Haas made an off target throw that sailed left of the first base going into foul territory that enabled McLaren to score from second and allowed Bergeson to move to second giving the Mustangs a 1 0 lead. It was ruled a single and a throwing error by the third baseman. Stefan Meyers struck out swinging for the first out of the inning. Austin Fitzpatrick hit an in-field single to left that held Bergeson at third. Kevin Thornton went down on strikes and Alex Anastas hit a fly ball out to shallow center to end the inning.
Lamar stormed back in the top of the second inning when Cody Robinson led off with a single to right center field. Dan Hernandez followed with a single to right field and took second on the throw from the right fielder to the third baseman. Raul Renovato was hit by a pitch to load the bases, then Myers fanned Haas and Cameron Blinka. Meyers walked the next batter also walking in a run to even the score at one. Cody Abraham hit a fly ball out to left to end the threat.
Friendswood was back at it again in the bottom of the third when McLaren doubled down the first base line and later took third on a pick-off attempt that was under thrown and went into center field. Bergeson’s bunt attempt failed to bring home McLaren. The ball was fielded by Rodgers immediately and threw to first for the out. Stefan singled to left field and brought home McLaren for a 2 1 lead. Kevin Thornton ended the inning with a pop fly out to the catcher.
Myers got help from his defense along with some strikes.
The bottom of the fifth is when the Mustangs found more promise. Myers singled to left field and pinch runner Jesse Flores ran in his place. Fitzpatrick hit a looping flair to center that got up under the right fielder and went into deep right field that brought home a run to make the score 3 1. Fitzpatrick stole second and Kevin Thornton was called out on strikes to end the inning. Friendswood picked up another run in the bottom of the sixth inning making the score 4 1.
Lamar added a couple of runs in the top of the seventh but the comeback fell short when Brandon Hollek struck out to end the game.
Game 2 is set for Friday 7:30 pm at Cougar field