CRESTVIEW — There was much for Crestview High School baseball Coach Tim Gillis to smile about Tuesday after the Bulldogs tangled with Tate in a District 1-7A game.
The Bulldogs only committed two errors, which wasn’t too bad. What is bad is Crestview also had only two hits.
Tate took advantage of Crestview’s lackadaisical performance picking up a 9-2 win.
“I don’t know if I would even call it lackadaisical,” Crestview Coach Tim Gillis said. “It was about as bad as I’ve ever seen. We can have a bad play, but we can’t have a bad game.
“Nobody did anything including me. You would think in a district game at home we would play a lot better and a lot harder. We didn’t and that’s on the coach.”
Crestview-Tate baseball photos>>>
The Bulldogs (4-4, 1-1) had no production from the middle of the lineup. Crestview’s three, four and five hitters were a combined 0-for-8. Nate Gerard, the five hole hitter, was the only batter in the middle of the lineup to reach base as he drew a walk in the sixth inning.
Tate’s Sawyer Smith scored the game’s first run in the second inning. Smith singled, stole second and went to third on a wild pitch.
Smith stole home after Madison Lockman struck out and Gerard, the Bulldog catcher didn’t cleanly handle the third strike. Smith bolted for home when Gerard threw to first to retire Lockman.
The Aggies basically put the game away in the third inning as they scored four runs on three hits off of Bulldog starting pitcher Travis Wiljakainen.
Crestview finally got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third when Alik Whited was safe on an Aggie error and scored on Zach Degraaf double.
Jordan Chamberlain took the mound for Crestview in the fourth inning and gave up four runs on four hits in two innings of work.
B.A. Larkins led off the Crestview fifth with a base hit and later scored when Bryant Berry drew a bases loaded walk.
Crestview kept Tate off the scoreboard in the final two innings. Ryan Weekley worked a scoreless sixth for the Bulldogs. And Jeremy Willis shut Tate down in the seventh.
Bulldog shortstop Corey Armstrong turned in the defensive play of the game in the fifth inning. He went far to his left and made a diving stop on a Trace Penton grounder up the middle. Armstrong quickly got to his feet and threw a strike to first baseman Dayne Justice that just beat Penton.
Randy Dickson is the Crestview News Bulletin’s sports editor. Email him at randyd@crestviewbulletin.com, tweet him @cnb_sports, or call 682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Tate roughs up Crestview baseball team (PHOTOS, VIDEO)