EMORY, Texas-New Diana had its chances but couldn't mount the rally against Hooks in Game 2 after the Eagles won the series opener.
The Hornets tied the Class 3A area baseball series with New Diana with a 5-2 win Friday at Rains High School. The Eagles posted a 5-0 shutout in Game 1.
"We carried the momentum, once we got it (in the second game)," Hooks coach Tony Hight said. "We need to play like that from the very beginning."
The rubber game is scheduled for 6 p.m. today back at Wildcat Field.
Game 2
Hooks 5, New Diana 2
Hooks left-hander Ty Thomerson scattered seven hits and stranded 10 Eagles as the Hornets evened the series.
Thomerson went the distance, throwing 112 pitches, struck out four, walked four and allowed two runs-one earned-to notch the win on the mound.
"We're very confident in Ty; every time he steps on the mound, we're better defensively and our lineup seems to know to come on and hit for him," Hight said. "He goes out and throws a lot of strikes, gets ground balls and popups. The key to the game is throwing strikes."
Austin Green took the loss for the Eagles (19-8), tossing a 111-pitch complete game. Green gave up eight hits, struck out nine and had no walks. Three of the five runs were earned.
The Hornets (20-10) knotted the score and took the lead in the third.
Thomerson pulled a single to right, and Carter Duncan followed with a frozen-rope single to left. A bunt moved the pair into scoring position, and Tanner Pounds' hit to left plated courtesy runner Benji Johnson to tie the game.
Following a balk, Duncan broke for home on a squeeze bunt attempt, but the pitch was high and outside and mishandled to allow Duncan to steal home easily. Pounds came home on a wild pitch, staking Hooks to a 3-1 lead.
The Eagles grabbed the lead in the second inning.
Cooper Holland beat a leadoff infield hit for New Diana, and a wild pitch moved him to second with no outs. After a groundout to second, Holland scored on Carson Willeford's groundout to shortstop.
Darren Manes delivered a soft liner to center for a two-out hit, but a flyout to center ended the inning.
Thomerson's hard ground ball inside the bag at first went for a stand-up double as it rolled all the way into the right field corner to start the Hornets' fifth. Conner Price beat a one-out infield single to put runners at the corners.
A come-backer resulted in a fielder's choice as the lead runner got caught in a rundown between third and home, eventually being tagged out. A strikeout stranded a pair of Hooks runners.
A two-out error extended the Hornets' seventh, and Pounds singled to left before Marquiz Estell smashed a two-run hit to center field, extending the lead to 5-1.
Thomerson retired the New Diana side in order in the third and fourth, but a streak of nine consecutive outs was snapped when Cody Stanley worked a two-out walk. Green drilled a single to right, but a strong throw by third baseman Brayden Ross got the next batter at first to strand the pair of Eagles.
T.J. Krause bounced a single up the middle to lead off Hooks' sixth but never advanced off the base.
New Diana worked a pair of walks in the bottom of the sixth, and the runners pulled a double steal to get the potential tying run in scoring position. A groundout ended the threat.
The Eagles got a run in the seventh on an error, scoring Darren Manes after he led off with a stand-up double. Hooks ended the game on a strikeout by Thomerson.
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Ty Thomerson and Mason Vasquez. Austin Green and Cooper Holland. WP-Thomerson. LP-Green.
Game 1
New Diana 5, Hooks 0
Cade Medlin pitched a three-hitter, needing 95 pitches to go the distance for the Eagles to claim the series opener.
Medlin struck out five and walked four for New Diana.
Brayden Ross absorbed the loss, tossing a 103-pitch complete game for Hooks. Ross allowed eight hits-four in the seventh inning-and was charged with all five earned runs. He fanned eight, walked three and hit a pair.
"The first game, we really couldn't get anything going," Hight said. "And we have to give credit to their pitcher; he threw lights out."
The Eagles got going early, banging out a couple of hits to start the second and scoring twice in the frame.
Medlin lined a leadoff single to center, and courtesy runner Carson Willeford came all the way around to score from first Landon Ferguson one-hopped the wall in left-center for a stand-up double.
Ferguson advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a fielder's choice groundout by Cooper Holland, who picked up the RBI for a 2-0 Eagle lead.
Medlin doubled in a pair of runs in the top of the seventh after Cody Stanley and Austin Green had back-to-back singles. Ferguson added an RBI hit for a 5-0 New Diana lead.
Medlin didn't allow a hit through three innings, but T.J. Krause chopped an infield single to third to lead off the fourth inning. The Hornets had their third stranded baserunner of the game to end the inning.
The Eagles started the game with Darren Manes reaching on an error, but Hooks catcher Mason Vasquez threw out Manes, attempting to steal third, to end the inning.
Ross didn't have another inning in which he faced just three batters until the fifth. Ross notched strikeouts around a groundout to third baseman Krause, who snagged a sharply-struck ball behind the bag and threw out Medlin.
Hooks' best scoring opportunity came in the fifth.
A one-out walk was bunted to second, and Tanner Pounds legged out an infield hit to put Hornets at the corners with two outs. Pounds stole second, but New Diana second baseman Stanley made the play on a ball hit in the hole between first an second to get out of the inning with two Hooks baserunners in scoring position.
The third out of the Hornets' sixth inning was at home, when a runner attempted to take home on a pitch that bounced away from the Eagles catcher. However, Holland gathered the ball and tagged the runner just before he touched the plate.
Ross lined a hit to lead off the sixth, and a walk put runners at the corners after a fielder's choice for the second out.
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Cade Medlin and Cooper Holland. Brayden Ross and Mason Vasquez. WP-Medlin. LP-Ross.