Photos courtesy of Carter Shots
The Pampa Harvesters (10-6, 3-2) are flying the “W” flag at Harvester Stadium once again after an 8-1 win over the Dumas Demons on Tuesday afternoon.
“Everything was clicking Tuesday against Dumas,” Head Coach Austin Samulowitz said. “We ran the bases well, put the ball in play and made plays behind Jaime (Soto, pitcher).
“Our bench brought a ton of energy and I have to give credit to (Senior) Tristan Bagwell, (Junior) Kamden Snelgrooes and (Junior) Evan Orand for that.”
Soto started on the mound for the Harvesters, tallying three strikeouts through the first three frames while Dumas scored their only run. In the bottom of the third, Freshman Phoenix Lopez led off reaching after being hit by a pitch, Junior Gage Gamblin came in to courtesy run for Lopez and advanced to second after Dumas struggled to field a grounder from Senior Max Neff. Gamblin and Neff moved up after a sacrifice bunt from Senior Boston Botello.
Senior Jack Dyer hit an RBI single plating Gamblin, followed by Neff scoring on a bunt from Senior Clayton Rogers. Soto then hit an RBI double plating Dyer and giving the Harvesters the 3-1 lead.
The Harvesters held Dumas to a double in the fourth, keeping the lead at 3-1. Junior Cy LeBlanc led off the home half of the fourth with a line drive to left to get on base. Lopez and Neff each hit RBI doubles, and later Dyer joined in with a one-out RBI to blow the game open 6-1 in favor of the Harvesters.
“We had an injury to our returning catcher during our scrimmages, and we had to throw Phoenix in the mix early,” Samulowitz said. “He has done a tremendous job of going in there and learning our stuff and just competing. We love the energy and toughness he brings to the team. We are excited to have him lead our team for three more years.”
Phoenix Lopez
The scoring slowed by both teams until the bottom of the six with Rogers hit an RBI to score Dyer. Senior Conner Hall sacrificed later in the frame to bring home Rogers and give us our final of 8-1. Soto finished adding the win to his name with a pair of punch-outs in the top of the seventh to close out the game.
“Jaime has stepped into being our ace for our pitching staff this year,” Samulowitz said. “We lost our top three pitchers from last years team and Jaime has done a great job at taking over the lead role.
“He is getting better every time he steps on the bump and that’s exciting to see as a coach. When you have a pitcher that can do what Jaime does, he gives your team a chance to win.”
Jaime Soto
The Harvesters return to action on Friday when they host Canyon in a show-down for early claims to the fourth-place spot in District 4-4A. Game time is at 5 p.m.
“We are preparing just like we are playing anyone else in district,” Samulowitz said. “You don’t want to do switch things up at this point. We are trying to be the very best we can be because if we can do that, it doesn’t matter who is across the diamond.”
Stat Round-Up
Junior Jaime Soto earned his second win of the season going seven innings with five hits, one run, one earned run, two walks and nine strikeouts.
Senior Max Neff went 1-3 with an RBI and two runs scored and a double; Senior Boston Botello went 1-3; Senior Jack Dyer went 3-4 with two RBI, two runs scored, a double and a stolen base; Senior Clayton Rogers went 2-3 with two RBI, a run scored, a double and two stolen bases; Junior Jaime Soto went 1-3 with an RBI, a walk and a double; Senior Conner Hall had an RBI; Junior Cy LeBlanc went 1-4 with a run scored; Freshman Phoenix Lopez went 2-2 with an RBI and a double.