The Pampa Harvesters (7-9, 2-1) opened district play over Spring Break with a 7-1 loss to Hereford. They quickly followed that up with two wins over Perryton (5-4) and over Borger (9-1). Those wins were much needed to regain confidence after losing all four games at the Bowie Tournament before Spring Break.
Borger
Pampa traveled to Borger on Tuesday night for their third district game of the season.
Sophomore Judsen Hancock started the Borger game right with an infield single. He stole second and later advanced to third base on a wild pitch. Freshman Max Neff brought home Hancock with an infield single of his own. Pampa led 1-0 after the first inning thanks to lights-out pitching from Sophomore Brooks Barton. He struck out two of the three batters in the bottom of the first.
Pampa was unable to get anything going in the second inning but Barton added three strikeouts to end the Borger threat in the bottom of the second. Hancock added another single in the third inning but the Harvesters couldn’t bring him home to score this time. Barton continued his dominant pitching with another strikeout in the bottom of the third.
The fourth inning is where the Harvester bats would come alive. Neff began things with a single to left field. He stole second as well during the next at-bat. Freshman Boston Botello laid down a perfect bunt on the sacrifice attempt but was able to leg it out for a single of his own. He also stole second after reaching base. Freshman Jarren Hill singled on a grounder to center that scored Neff. Junior Zanden Salazar singled on a fly ball to center which scored Botello. Senior Huston Skinner hit a sacrifice fly to right to bring home Hill and Pampa led 4-0 after the top half of the fourth. Things got a little dicey for Barton with a walk, single, and walk to begin the inning. However, Senior Michael Campos gunned down a runner trying to steal second for the first out of the inning. Another runner was picked off at first base but not before the runner at third could score and make it 4-1 Pampa through four complete innings.
The fifth inning did not bring much excitement for either side but Barton recorded two more strikeouts.
Sophomore Isaiah Anguiano began the sixth with a walk. Skinner singled on another great bunt. After a bad throw, both runners were in scoring position. Campos grounded out but recorded an RBI when Anguiano came in to make it 5-1 Harvesters.
Sophomore Isaiah Estrada came in for relief of Barton after a leadoff walk to begin the bottom of the sixth. The inning was over thanks to a huge double play from Salazar catching a line drive and throwing it back over to Senior Tyler Reed at first base as the runner thought it was a ground ball and took off toward second.
Pampa wanted to score more insurance runs in the seventh. Neff began the inning with a single. He then stole second and third base. Botello grounded out but recorded an RBI when Neff came home to score. Hill would then walk. Anguiano hit a single on a pop fly to shortstop. Then, Skinner doubled on a fly ball to right which brought home two RBIs as Anguiano and Salazar both came home to score. The score after the top of the seventh was Pampa 9, Borger 1.
Estrada made sure Borger could not even think about threatening to break out this inning as he struck out two batters to end the game with a quick 1-2-3 inning. Final: Pampa 9, Borger 1.
Neff was 3-3 with an RBI and two runs scored as well as three steals. Skinner was 2-3 with three RBIs and a double. Hancock had two hits and two steals. Campos, Salazar, Reed, and Botello all added steals in the game for a total of nine Harvester steals.
Barton had five innings pitched, just three hits and one earned run as well as eight strikeouts while picking up the win. Estrada had two innings pitched and did not allow a base runner while picking up two strikeouts.
Perryton
Pampa hosted Perryton last Saturday in a must-win game after losing the first district game to Hereford on Friday.
After Reed recorded a strikeout and stopped any threat in the top of the first, Pampa would come to bat hoping to draw first blood. Hancock started with a single to left. Campos laid down a great sacrifice bunt to advance the runner. Reed and Neff both walked. Botello had a sacrifice fly to score Hancock and give Pampa the first lead of the game. Hill walked and Salazar singled on a pop fly in the infield to score Anguiano (he was the courtesy runner for Reed). Pampa led 2-0 after one inning.
After a dicey start to the inning with a walk and a double, Reed got out of the threat for Ranger runs with three straight strikeouts.
Hanock singled and then Reed hit a fly ball to right which was dropped for an error and Hancock came home to score and make it 3-0 Pampa. Perryton never went away quietly and they quickly tied the game back up at 3-3 in their half of the third inning.
It would not be until the bottom of the fourth before another run was scored. Estrada reached on an error by first base and Skinner laid down a sac bunt to advance Estrada to third base after he stole second earlier in the at-bat. Hancock came up next and singled to right to put the Harvesters back on top at 4-3.
The fifth inning was devoid of any action from either team. However, in the top of the sixth, Perryton tied it back at 4-4.
The game would see base runners for both sides but nothing coming from it and so the game went into extra innings after the game was still tied at 4-4 through seven complete.
Hancock was huge in this game and he led off the bottom of the ninth with a double to left. He would then steal third and the Harvesters were in a prime position to walk off with a runner on third and no outs. Reed intentionally walked. Neff also intentionally walked after the pitcher got down 3-0 in the count. The bases were now loaded and all Botello needed to do for Pampa to score the winning run was get the ball in the outfield. That he did on the second pitch of his at-bat. It was going to be a sacrifice fly anyways more than likely with Hancock’s speed at third base but the outfielder dropped the ball and Pampa won the game in walk-off fashion by a final of 5-4.
Hancock was 4-5 with a double, two steals, and three RBIs. Estrada also recorded a steal in the game. Reed had five and one-thirds innings of worthwhile allowing zero earned runs and recording seven strikeouts. Estrada pitched three and two-thirds innings and recorded zero earned runs and one strikeout. He also picked up the win.
Other scores from recent games. Pampa lost 7-1 to Hereford on Friday, March 17. They lost 12-2 to Grand Saline in the opener of the Bowie Tournament on Thursday, March 9. On Friday, March 10, they lost 10-0 to Parish Episcopal and 4-0 to Boyd. The finale of the tournament on Saturday, March 11 was a great pitching battle but the Harvesters fell short 2-1.
District standings as of March 22:
Randall 3-0
Hereford 2-1
Canyon 2-1
Pampa 2-1
Perryton 1-2
West Plains 1-2
Dumas 1-2
Borger 0-3
Pampa played Canyon on Friday in Pampa. They will be back in action at home against Dumas on Tuesday of next week. Catch up on the recap of those games next week! All games are live-streamed on the GameChanger app. You can also catch Jamisen Hancock and Ben Campbell with the radio call for KDRL 103.3 FM. Their radio broadcast will also be on the live stream.
