LUCAS, Texas-Texas High took care of business in the opener.
Cameron Radney pitched a complete game, the Tigers scored in multiple ways and took a 8-2 victory over Lucas Lovejoy in Game 1 of the Class 5A bi-district series Wednesday at Leopard Field.
The second game will be played at 7 p.m. Friday at Tiger Field, and if a third game is needed, it is scheduled for noon Saturday at Rockwall High School.
Radney scattered eight hits-three in the final inning-and threw 87 pitches. He struck out four and walked one for the Tigers (24-5).
"I thought the wind was going to be a bigger factor than it was; we played like we have thus far," Texas High coach John McCLure said. "We played great defense, Cameron Radney did an amazing job, and we did what we had to do offensively, whether that was force them to make an error and one inning we had two hit batters, balk, balk and score. I don't think you'll ever see that again in baseball."
The Leopards (18-13) got an infield hit from Michael Difiore with two outs in the first inning, and a pair of wild pitches moved him around to third. A walk put runners on the corners, but Radney picked up his second strikeout of the inning to strand the pair.
After losing pitcher Eschler retired the first and second innings in order, Adam Quinn reached on a throwing error to start the Tigers' Half of the third inning. Dakota Turner doubled to deep center field to put two in scoring position with no outs.
Caden Dickson singled to left to give Texas High a 1-0 lead and stole second. Walks to Chris Lyles and Chris Sutton forced home Turner, and Conner Allred picked up an RBI on a fielder's choice to make it 3-0.
Cole Christen walked to lead off the fourth inning for the Tigers, and Quinn singled to right-center. A wild pitch moved the pair up, and Lyles' hard grounder to center scored both, extending the advantage to 5-0.
Following a walk to Jakob Hearne, a pair of wild pitches allowed Lyles to score for a 6-run lead.
Radney allowed just two hits through four innings, but Luke Howell and Mason Marsh collected back-to-back singles for the Leopards with one out in the fifth. Left fielder Quinn was able to quickly field and shoot the ball in on Marsh's hard-struck grounder down the left-field line to limit it to a single.
Radney induced an easy fly out to Quinn and struck out the next batter to thwart the threat.
Quinn and Turner were hit by pitches in the sixth, and a pair of balks sent Quinn home for a 7-0 lead.
Allred was walked with one out in the seventh, advanced on a 2-out hit batsmen, stole third and raced home as the throw on the steal was mishandled.
"Once you get into the playoffs, the only stat on the stat line that matters is runs," McClure said. "We didn't strike out a bunch; we did talk about not executing the bunt. And we've got to do a better job of driving guys in.
"It's going to be a tough one Friday; their backs are against the wall."
Down to their final two outs, the Leopards finally got on the scoreboard in the seventh. Howell lined a single to center, and Marsh belted a 1-1 pitch over the wall in left.
Turner was 1 for 2 with a double, Lyles was 1 for 3 with 2 RBI, and Quinn was 1 for 3 and scored three times.
Marsh was 2 for 3 with his home run for Lovejoy, Howell was 2 for 3, and Difiore was 2 for 4.
Texas High 003 301 1 - 8 4 0
Lovejoy 000 000 2 - 2 8 2
Cameron Radney and Caden Dickson. Jacob Eschler, Nathan Fallon (5), Jacob Terwilliger (5), Luke Stine (7) and Luke Howell. WP-Radney. LP-Eschler. HR: LVJ-Mason Marsh, 7th, 1 on.