All Hail King Caskey: Jacks Beat Marshals 6-1 Behind Stellar Start

Published on June 28, 2015 under Texas Collegiate League (TCL)
East Texas PumpJacks News Release


John Caskey and the Pump Jacks powered through the Texas Marshals for their third win in a row and eighth victory in their last 10 contests.

The East Texas Pump Jacks are on fire, not even a little summer storm can put them out.

Mother Nature threatened yet another game on the Pump Jacks' schedule with heavy overnight rains, but the arrival of the sun came smiling faces and spectacular baseball.

The Pump Jacks blew past the Texas Marshal 6-1 on Saturday night after wet field conditions pushed first pitch back by an hour.

Starting pitcher John Caskey went the distance in front of family and friends, allowing just an unearned run with six strikeouts in his complete-game effort.

The Pump Jacks spotted Caskey five runs in the home half of the first inning, pounding out three doubles in a rally that saw nine batters come to the plate.

T.J. Friedl got things started against Marshals' starter Austin Hilton with a one-out double, followed by a Niko Buentello walk. Catcher Tyler Moore reached safely on a squib single to the third basemen, loading the bases for Jake Nash, who entered the ballgame with three hits in his last 28 at bats.

The Palestine native smashed the first pitch he saw into the left-center field gap for a double, and both Friedl and Buentello scored easily.

With runners on second and third and one away, Tristan Clarke hit a swinging bunt to third base that clanked off of Jake McKenzie's glove, allowing Moore to race home from third on the error.

Hunter Owens stepped in with two outs and crushed the third double of the inning, bringing in Nash and Clark and pushing the Jacks' lead to 5-0.

Both teams went scoreless in the second inning, and the Marshals tallied their lone run in the top of the third. With one out, Logan Sepenak reached second on a throwing error. Caskey forced a fly ball for the second out, but Jake McKenzie's single to center scored Sepenak and spoiled the shutout.

The Pump Jacks answered in the bottom half of the third when Joey Libby slapped an opposite-field single with two outs that scored Clarke. Clarke had led off the inning with a single and moved into scoring position on a groundout.

Both Caskey and Hilton settled in from that point on, shutting down the opposing offense on their way to dual complete games.

Caskey got into a sticky situation in the eighth when McKenzie and Conner McMann hit back-to-back singles with one out. Andrew Plunkett's flyout allowed McKenzie to advance to third. Caskey's first pitch to Kyle Casserly got a piece of his midsection and loaded the bases.

Head coach Ernie May and the East Texas infield convened on the mound, but May declined to call on one of his ready arms and left Caskey in with a five-run lead. The decision paid off when Caskey forced a lazy fly ball to left field to end the threat.

Caskey came back out for the ninth to complete his masterpiece, and closed the door after allowing a two-out single. He earned his fourth win of the season, tied for second in the TCL, and took over the league lead with 29 strikeouts. Caskey also lowered his ERA on the summer to a miniscule 0.86, also good for second in the TCL.

Friedl led the Pump Jacks' nine-hit attack by going 3-for-4 with a walk and a run scored on the night, and Clarke went 1-for-2 with two walks and two runs scored.

The win pushed the Jacks into a third-place tie with the Victoria Generals, 1.5 games behind the Acadiana Cane Cutters in the race for second and a guaranteed playoff spot. The first half concludes with a Tuesday and Wednesday series against Acadiana at Irwin UT Tyler Ballpark, so a postseason berth may be on the line.

As always, game time in Tyler is 7:05, and gates will open at 6:00 p.m. Fans can also tune in to our live Ustream broadcast or follow the game with live scoring updates on our Pointstreak feed.

To follow all the news during the Jacks' inaugural season in Tyler, visit the Pump Jacks official web site at www.pumpjacksbaseball.com. Join the conversation with other members of Pump Jacks Nation by visiting the Pump Jacks on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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Texas Collegiate League Stories from June 28, 2015


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