HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL/SOFTBALL ROUNDUP: Mildred hangs on to defeat Eustace, 6-3

The Mildred Eagles held off a late rally to down the Eustace Bulldogs, 6-3, to open a Region II-2A bi-district baseball series on Thursday.

The Bulldogs will host the Eagles for Game 2 of the series tonight at 7:30 p.m. A third game, if necessary, is set for 2 p.m. Saturday, also in Eustace.

Mildred (15-11) sent 10 hitters to the plate in the third and scored four runs to grab a 6-0 lead, but that advantage got eaten away on the strength of five errors over the final two innings.

Eustace (10-17) scored all of its runs over those final two innings. Mildred had four errors in the sixth but used a rare 1-5-3-5 double play after an overthrow to limit the damage.

In the seventh, the Bulldogs got a one-out single from eight-hole hitter Gavin Kirkhart, then a triple from Tim Gassman, followed by an RBI single from Blake Ward.

Nic Shimonek got the win for Mildred, while Trevor Lane was hit with the loss.

Eustace also got hits from Raymond Shutak and Jordan Foote.

SOFTBALL

Region III-1A area

Best of three series

Cross Roads vs. Honey Grove

at Lone Oak High School

Game 1: Honey Grove 6, Cross Roads 4

Game 2: Friday, 5 p.m.

Game 3: 30 mins after Game 2*

Region II-2A area

Best of three series

Malakoff (26-6) vs. Crawford (25-2)

at Corsicana High School

Game 1: Crawford 13, Malakoff 2

Game 2: Friday, 6 p.m.

Game 3: Saturday, 6 p.m.*

* if necessary