Bryan senior pitcher Stone Farris set the bar high for himself and the Vikings in Bryan’s 10-0 run-rule victory over Temple to open District 12-6A baseball play Tuesday night at Viking Field.
In five innings of work, Farris gave up just one hit, one walk and hit one batter while striking out four on 50 pitches. The lone hit he allowed didn’t come until the top of the fifth when he gave up a leadoff double before getting a fly out and back-to-back ground outs.
“That felt great,” Farris said. “You know, first district game to be able to come out here and get the win with our guys, it’s a huge confidence builder, and just to be able to limit the pitch count and let my guys stay behind me and play D all feels good.”
While Farris was dealing on the mound, the Vikings (6-6-1, 1-0) also got hot at the plate as they plated a run in every inning expect the third.
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Bryan began the scoring surge in the first when leadoff hitter Kyle Kubichek reached on a fielding error. Kubichek stole second before coming home on an RBI double by Chance Crawford.
RBI doubles ended up being a common occurrence for the Vikings as five of the team’s runs came off doubles, including the game’s first and last runs.
“A lot of doubles today,” Bryan head coach Justin Garcia said. “I mean that’s something we’ve only done a few times this year. I don’t want to say I’m surprised, but I was happy to see it. We picked the right time to do it.”
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Crawford advanced to third on a wild pitch and later scored on a grounder by Kyle Turner with one out in the bottom of the first.
In the second inning, Joel Rios tacked on an insurance run with an RBI single to send the speedy Avery Wenzel home with one out. Wenzel reached on a leadoff walk.
Wenzel also led off the fourth with a walk. It wasn’t long before he was crossing the plate yet again as the Vikings erupted for six runs to take a 9-0 lead.
With Wenzel on first, Farris bunted to move him to second. A fielding error on a ground ball by Rios allowed Wenzel to cross the plate. A single by Trey Castro followed, and the Wildcats began having control issues on the mound with wild pitches.
Jackson Van Hyfte was pinch hitting for Crawford with two outs and runners on second and third when a wild pitch on a ball four brought a run home. Then came back-to-back-to-back RBI doubles as Tucker, A&M recruit Rylan Hill and Mason Garcia all drove in runs.
After two quick outs by Temple relief pitcher Trevor Skaggs in the bottom of the fifth, the Vikings clinched the run-rule victory with a Castro single and an RBI double by Kubichek as the song Celebration beginning playing over the speakers.
“It’s always good to start with a win on the first game,” Farris said. “I think we’re going to be due for a pretty good year this year. We’re just happy to win this first game and win another to keep going.”
The Vikings hit the road next to face Copperas Cove at 7 p.m. Friday.
“This was good to get a win here early, but I think this district’s going to be tough just with the teams and the three new teams that we’ve got coming in,” Garcia said. “It’s early but definitely going to have a good night tonight.”
Bryan 10, Temple 0 (5 innings)
Temple;000;00;—;0;1;2
Bryan;210;61;—;10;9;1
