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Warning shot: East opens fire, upsets Heritage in area opener
BY Matt Welch, mwelch@starlocalnews.com
MCKINNEY -- The Plano East baseball team drew state-ranked Colleyville Heritage into uncharted waters Friday night.
Unable to find a rhythm at the plate, keeping the opposition off the basepaths and playing with a lead. All of those facets worked in East's favor in Game 1 of a best-of-3 area series, with East dealing Heritage its most lopsided loss of the season, 7-2.
"It makes them have to beat us twice," said Travis Collins, East head coach, "so that's always a positive, but we still have to get 21 more outs and have the lead. We know this is a very good baseball team and we'll have our work cut out for us."
Timely hitting meshed with Heritage miscues put the state's No. 7 team, according to the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association, in an early hole with junior Ryan Kravik splitting the center-right gap for a single early in the frame. Senior Paul Garcia followed with a single of his own and, in what became a running theme, senior Jacob Boucher lit up the scoreboard with an RBI single to right field, scoring Kravik for the 1-0 lead.
Heritage was powerless against Boucher all night, with the left fielder going 3-for-3 with three RBIs.
It did, however, have control of sophomore Ryan Rettke's grounder to first baseman Christian Gonzalez, who was tasked with either tagging Rettke or making a throw home to prevent Garcia from scoring. Gonzalez settled for neither, frozen in his tracks as Garcia scored and Rettke scampered by to first base for the 2-0 lead.
A groundout from senior Sam Lane scored Boucher to round out the three-run, four-hit inning and set a pace that high-powered Heritage failed to match.
The chances were there though, with numerous hard-hit balls sailing to the warning track. But the East outfield was there every step of the way, complementing a complete-game, four-hit, two-run, three-strikeout performance on the bump by junior Ryan Boucher.
"[Boucher] did a good job and to be honest, they hit a lot of hard balls right at us," Collins said. "It's a different story if one of those finds a spot, especially on a night where I thought the ball might carry a bit more."
The only one that carried the anticipated distance was a two-run bomb over the right-field wall by Cody Thomas in the third inning.
"I don't think the ball [Thomas] hit has landed yet," Collins said. "I think it's over at McKinney High's school; that was just a missile."
By then, the Panthers had already established a 5-0 lead, courtesy of a two-RBI single up the middle by Jacob that scored Kravik and senior Jacob DeLaCruz. In all, the Panthers totaled 11 hits to Heritage's four.
"Wherever the pitcher's throwing the baseball, that's where we're trying to hit it to," Collins said. "When we're relaxed and just hitting the ball where it's at, we have a good chance to be successful."
East dealt Heritage's Nolan Brown the loss on the hill, tagging the pitcher for six runs on 10 hits over six innings of work. DeLaCruz accounted for that sixth run with an RBI infield single that scored Lane in the fourth.
Rettke padded that lead in the seventh with a sacrifice fly off reliever Jason Adams that scored Kravik, who touched home three times while going 3-of-4 from the plate.
Heritage's best crack at a rally came a half-inning prior, with a double by Brian Parks and a walk to Preston Palmeiro putting two on with one out. An ill-timed 4-6-3 double play by Gonzalez crippled any chance at an offensive, as East rode out a 7-2 victory and 1-0 series lead on a day that saw the site changed from Coppell to Boyd to adjust to the rainfall that plagued the Metroplex all day.
"I won't say it's out of the ordinary, but it wasn't expected," Collins said. "We knew about the weather forecast and knew we'd have to travel around. We prepared our guys for that, just like I'm sure [Heritage head coach Alan McDougal] did the same for his guys."
The Panthers resumed play with Game 2 at 1 p.m. Saturday from Boyd (results not available at press time), with a potential Game 3 following if need be.
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