1 week Ago By Mike Forman
EL CAMPO — Lane Schulz has done everything within his power to get El Campo off to a good start in District 29-4A play. Schulz yielded a total of two runs in his first two appearances, but the Ricebirds failed to score in either game. Schulz showed what is possible when he gets support by pitching a two-hitter in El Campo’s 9-1 win over Bay City on Tuesday night at Legends Field.
“I think we’ve been putting too much pressure on ourselves and trying to do too much in the box,” Schulz said. “Instead of worrying about the guy behind us, we should worry about getting him in the box.” Schulz yielded only one walk, struck out 12 and allowed only one runner to reach second base after the first inning, as the Ricebirds improved to 9-5-1 and 2-2 in district play.
“I don’t know if I didn’t get loose enough in the first,” said Schulz, who has signed with Midland College, “but once I got going it was pretty cruising from there.” Hooker expects a quality start every time Schulz takes the mound. “His confidence has just gotten way better,” El Campo head coach Jacob Hooker said.
“He’s cut down the walks. I think he threw 80-something pitches and that’s pretty good with 10-plus strikeouts.” The lone run for the Blackcats (6-13, 1-4) came in the first inning when Ayden Ramos doubled, went to third on an error, and scored on a well-executed suicide squeeze bunt by Trevor Frazier.
“With a pitcher like him (Schulz), you’ve got to jump on early before he gets settled in,” Bay City head coach Jared Hoelscher said. “In that first inning, we were able to get that first run across and generate some momentum. “I was hoping that wasn’t the peak of it and we could keep it going,” Hoelscher continued.
“He found his groove and started letting loose and pitching and got command of the fastball, curveball and slider and got us off balance.” The Ricebirds gave Schulz all the support he would need in the second inning when they scored three runs on two hits, including a two-run single by Jackson Bystrek. “It’s easy to do when we start a rally,” said Bystrek, who went 2-for-3 with a double.
“All I had to do was keep it going. We just need to believe in ourselves, believe in our teammates, and have fun.” El Campo added three more runs in the third inning on one hit — an RBI single by Schulz — and scored single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth.
“We finally came up with some big hits tonight,” Hooker said. “Jackson Bystrek has been out of the lineup the last couple of games and we stuck him back in there and he came up with a big hit. We had some really better at bats tonight than we have in the last three district games.
” Schulz, who retired 19 of the final 21 hitters, hopes the Ricebirds are able to carry their success into the rest of district play. “I think we have a lot of room to improve,” he said. “We definitely have the hitting aspect.
In baseball, that comes last. I think we’ve been doing pretty well other than that so not too much to complain about.” Bay City 100 000 0 — 1 2 2 El Campo 033 111 x — 9 6 1 W: Lane Schulz.
L: Keaton Nunez. Highlights: (BC) Ayden Ramos 1-for-3, 2B, R; Carmine Ramirez 1-for-3, SB. (EC) Schulz 7 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 12 SO, 1-for-3, RBI; Clayton Stehling 1-for-2, 2B, 2 R; Dayton Zabodyn 1-for-2, RBI; Chris Rodriguez 1-for-3, R; Jackson Bystrek 2-for-3, 2B, 2 RBIs.
Records: Bay City 6-13, 1-4; El Campo 9-5-1, 2-2..
