Quitman starting catcher hospitalized for surgery

By GARY EDWARDS
Posted 4/16/14

What a difference a week can make. Just ask the Quitman Bulldogs baseball coach Hayland Hardy. One week ago his team was just a game out of first place.

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Quitman starting catcher hospitalized for surgery

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What a difference a week can make. Just ask the Quitman Bulldogs baseball coach Hayland Hardy. One week ago his team was just a game out of first place. A week later the team is without starting catcher Pancho Ramirez and saddled with a pair of losses to Grand Saline and Edgewood, both ahead of them in their quest for a playoff spot.

Ramirez was hospitalized for appendicitis surgery and will be out of action for the remainder of the regular season.

The Bulldogs competed with strong efforts in both games but Grand Saline broke a 5-5 tie with a run in the top of the seventh inning Wednesday to win that game and Edgewood turned a 3-3 game into a 5-3 game with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to win that game 7-5."I was really proud of how our boys competed," Hardy said later and he expects the team "will rally and finish well."

On Wednesday, a game delayed from the previous day because of a wet field, Grand Saline combined two hits with a Quitman error to score twice in the top of the first inning off starter Jesus "Chuy" Ramirez.

The score remained 2-0 until the top of the third inning when the visitors scored an unearned run of Ramirez to improve their advantage to 3-0.

Both teams struggled to put together offense, in fact Quitman didn't have a hit until bottom of the fourth inning. Cameron Peek and Chuy Ramirez reached base on walks and Cord Conley drove in the first Quitman run with a single. One out later Sheldon Sager doubled to the left field fence to tie the game at 3-3.

A pair of strikeouts short-circuited the the budding offense and the game moved into the top of the fifth and it didn't take the Indians long to respond.

A walk, sacrifice and a two-out homerun put the Indians back in charge 5-3, just as quickly as Quitman had tied the game.

In the bottom of the fifth the Bulldogs' Chase Turner was hit by a pitch with one out and then Chuy Ramirez walked. Pitcher Conley then doubled in both runners to tie the game at 5-5.

In the sixth inning the Indians went down in order with the help of a double play, Conley to Sager to Jacob Davis at first and Quitman didn't fare any better, going down on a fly ball to left field, a grounder to shortstop and a strikeout, setting the stage for the seventh inning.

A leadoff and perfectly placed single that fell in short centerfield between three players started the Bulldogs' downfall. A sacrifice bunt and a two-out double to left centerfield scored the winning run.

At Edgewood the offense collected 15 hits but managed to score only five runs and the defense struggled at times, allowing four unearned runs.

Edgewood led 5-3 after four innings and 7-3 after scoring two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning that ultimately proved to be the winning runs when the Bulldogs came up with two runs of their own in the top of the seventh.

Cameron Peek was 4-4 at the plate and Cord Conley and Chuy Ramirez were each 3-4. Sager had a pair of singles and Colby Peek, Nick Johnson and Turner each had a single.

Winnsboro,Grand Saline and Edgewood are all 8-2 in district with Quitman now 5-5 and needing to win their upcoming games this week against Lone Oak and Como-Pickton as well as their final two games of the regular season April 22 at Commerce and April 25 at home against Winnsboro.