Elida beats Texico on diamond

DEXTER—A big third inning rallied Elida past Texico and lifted the Tigers to their first win of the young baseball season 8-4 over the Wolverines this morning in the annual Hal Bogle tournament in Dexter.

Texico scored two runs in each of the first two innings to lead 4-1 heading into the third inning where the Tigers took the lead.

Elida’s Wesley Gilmore and fellow junior Dan Massey walked to begin the inning and were quickly brought home after Tom Sullivan connected on a two-run scoring double to bring the Tigers to within one run. Sophomore Cade Cathey tied the score a moment later with an RBI single. A Caleb Widener single and an error later, the Tigers had taken their first lead of the game 5-4.

Elida padded their lead with two runs in the fourth inning, before the game was called due to time in the fifth inning, with the Tigers (1-2) winning 8-4.

Although the Tigers got clutch hits in the third inning, head coach Jimmy Ward knows there’s work to be done with the sticks.

“I think we’ll get to hitting better. We’ve got a lot of guys popping them up still and striking out when we don’t need to,” Ward said. “We’re going to get to be a better hitting team.”

Widener got the win, pitching just two innings, while Gilmore closed the game out, allowing no runs in the fourth and fifth innings. Ward said he is still tinkering with the pitching lineup.

“We’re just kind of pitching them by committee,” Ward said. “We’re still trying to get them in shape, we’ve been letting them throw about 30 pitches each (per game).”

Elida hosts San Jon Monday afternoon.