Pump Jacks Outlast Generals

Published on June 22, 2012 under Texas Collegiate League (TCL)
East Texas PumpJacks News Release


They say that the first day of summer, June 21st, is the longest day of the calendar year. After Thursday night, the Pump Jacks agree wholeheartedly.

In the longest game of the season for East Texas by time, the Pump Jacks came back with six runs in the fifth and sixth innings to beat the Victoria Generals 10-5 and move their home record in 2012 to 8-0.

Both teams struck in the first inning. Jude Vidrine walked with two outs against Jacks starter Corey Ray and advanced to second on a passed ball. Eric Weiss then drove Vidrine in for a short-lived 1-0 Generals lead. The Pump Jacks responded in the bottom of the first. With two outs, John Williams walked, followed by a line-drive double from Whitt Dorsey. With runners on second and third, a passed ball on Victoria catcher Blue Hybner scored Williams and tied the game at 1-1.

The Generals took their largest lead of the night in the third inning. Billy Richard hit a triple to center field, and Chad Kruse drove him in with a single. He was followed by Vidrine, who hit the first home run of the season at Driller Park by any team over the right-center field fence to give the Generals a 4-1 lead.

Again, the Pump Jacks responded. Kirby Pellant led off with a walk, and advanced to second base on a groundout. Williams then singled up the middle. Pellant broke around third base for home, and was safe on a play at the plate, cutting the East Texas deficit to 4-2.

Dorsey was then hit in the back with a pitch by Generals starter Bryce Zak, momentarily causing the tensions to rise. Nothing more came out of the situation, however, and both teams played the rest of the game without incident.

The score remained 4-2 in favor of the Generals until the bottom of the fifth. With Victoria's first relief pitcher of the night, Corey Holmes, on the mound to begin the inning, East Texas went to work. Tyler Sullivan led off with a walk. After a flyout, Dorsey was hit on the ankle with a breaking pitch. After R.J. Santigate walked to load the bases, Colton Bickerstaff was given a free pass on four pitches to force in the third run of the game for the Jacks. Then, with a new pitcher on the mound in Jake McMurtry, yet another walk was issued, this one to Tyler Girouard, to tie the game at 4-4.

The bottom of the fifth inning ended with a double play, but that didn't faze the Pump Jacks in the least. They took the lead for good in the sixth inning. Pellant started the rally with a one-out double down the right field line. Sullivan then walked, and after a balk moved runners to second and third, Williams squibbed the ball up the third base line that rolled to a stop and brought home Pellant with the go-ahead run.

The zany inning continued when a wild pitch by new pitcher Daniel Tunchez, Jr. moved Williams to second. In the same at-bat, another wild pitch scored Sullivan, who had moved to third on Williams' hit, to make the score 6-4 Pump Jacks. The latter pitch moved also Williams to third. Dorsey was then walked to put runners at the corners. With Santigate batting, a wild pitch moved Dorsey to second base. Then, a passed ball in the same at-bat scored Williams and sent Dorsey to third base. Santigate eventually walked himself to put runners at the corners again with the score 7-4 East Texas.

There was more to come. After a strikeout, Girouard walked to load the bases once more. With pinch-hitter Blair DeBord batting, another passed ball brought home Dorsey to make the score 8-4 Pump Jacks.

Both teams would tack on runs later in the game, but the damage was done. The Pump Jacks scored ten runs despite only having six hits thanks to a remarkable 16 walks drawn, including five in the four-run sixth inning alone.

The two teams combined to use 11 pitchers in the contest, which lasted three hours and thirty-seven minutes, by far the longest regulation game of the season for East Texas. With the win, the Pump Jacks remain in first place in the TCL standings.

Jeff Stovall (3-0) got the win for the Pump Jacks in relief, while McMurtry (0-1) was dealt the loss for the Generals.

Girouard led the walk parade for the Jacks, drawing four in five total plate appearances, while Sullivan and Santigate drew three walks apiece. Williams continued his hot hitting by going 2-for-4 with two runs scored and 2 RBIs. Bickerstaff also drove in two runs for East Texas while going 1-for-4 with a double, one of three Pump Jacks (with Dorsey and Pellant) to get a two-base hit on the night.

East Texas will host Victoria again on Friday night, the first Fireworks Friday of the season, sponsored by 1st Choice Personnel and CBS-19. That will be followed by a three-game road trip for the Pump Jacks, facing Brazos Valley on Saturday night, then The Woodlands on Sunday and Monday nights.

First pitch for all games is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

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Texas Collegiate League Stories from June 22, 2012


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