4/12/2008 - ‘Runners Split with League-Leading Navarro
CORSICANA – That’s “Gurka” with a “K.”
Facing the most potent offense in all of Region XIV, Angelina College
pitcher Jason Gurka spent Saturday afternoon whiffing the Navarro
Bulldogs in a masterful display of pitching, striking out a
career-high 15 batters over seven innings to earn the complete-game,
6-4 win in the opener of a doubleheader.
Tossing a maddening assortment of breaking pitches, Gurka held the
high-powered Bulldogs to no runs on just one hit over the final four
innings to notch his fourth straight mound victory. His run support
came via a pair of Matt Thielepape two-run homers and another two RBIs
from Ryan Kelley.
Gurka gave up three runs in the second inning on homers from Navarro’s
Kyle Livingstone and Ross Hubbard; and another run in the third on an
RBI single by Brett Parsons. However, the Brenham sophomore settled in
afterward, striking out the side in the fourth and notching at least
two Ks per inning the rest of the way.
“Before the game, Jason was as loose as always,” head coach Jeff Livin
said. “He wasn’t intimidated one bit; if anything, he was anxious to
see how he’d do against such a strong lineup.”
However, the ‘Runners missed a golden opportunity to earn a rare road
sweep of the Bulldogs, who entered the nightcap having won 17 of their
last 19 in securing their hold on first place in Region XIV’s East
Zone. AC starter Trey Rackel didn’t match Gurka’s strikeout numbers,
but the freshman righty nevertheless held Navarro to one run over the
first five innings – with a lot of defensive help from Kelley, who
made a pair of rally-killing catches in left field to help keep Rackel
on the mound.
But once Rackel left after giving up a leadoff double in the seventh,
the wheels came off the AC pitching machine. With the Roadrunners
holding a seemingly insurmountable 8-1 lead, the Bulldogs began
pecking away over the game’s final innings. Ross Hubbard, who finished
the day with three homers, touched Rackel up in the sixth for a solo
homer, and teammate Mark Mayfield scored on a Roadrunner error to cut
the lead to 8-3. The Bulldogs tacked on another run in the seventh,
then entered their last at-bat in the ninth trailing 9-5.
That’s when the Navarro team showed just how they’d managed to build
such a big lead in the conference standings. The Bulldogs posted a
four-run inning with two walks, four singles and a game-tying grand
slam from No. 9 hitter Jerron Shepherd that sent the game into extra
innings.
AC’s Chris Laird put the ‘Runners back on top with a solo homer in the
10th, but Hubbard bombed his third homer of the day in the bottom of
the inning, necessitating an 11th inning. AC put runners aboard but
left them stranded, and Navarro won in walk-off fashion on a Brett
Parsons sacrifice fly that gave the Bulldogs the 11-10 win.
A disappointed Livin said afterward that his team had obviously let
one get away.
“It’s called ‘competing’,” Livin said. “Jason and Trey came out ready
to compete, and they both pitched their hearts out today. When you’ve
got an opportunity to sweep a team like Navarro, you can’t let it slip
away like we did.
“You’ve got to take care of business on the bump.”
The two teams combined for 11 home runs in the doubleheader, with
Hubbard nailing three and Thielepape two. Roadrunners Chris Andreas,
Bryan Mallett, Chris Laird and Michael Padgett also went deep for AC.
The Roadrunners, now 23-14, 13-7 – and still with a hold on second
place in the standings – will travel to Carthage on Wednesday to take
on Panola. Game time for the opener is 1 p.m.
