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James Gang: Rudkin paces Panthers' shutout of Bell, forces Game 3
BY Matt Welch, mwelch@starlocalnews.com
COPPELL -- Plano East sophomore James Rudkin has pitched in games like Friday night's versus L.D. Bell before.
Only instead of Bell, it was against Colleyville Heritage. And before that, it was against Keller Fossil Ridge.
But regardless of the opponent, the only commonality was the "W" that favored the Panthers in the end and Friday was no different, with Rudkin keying a 5-0 victory over the Blue Raiders to draw the teams even, 1-1, in the best-of-3 Region I Quarterfinal series.
The Panthers improved to 4-0 in elimination games during the playoffs, 3-0 with Rudkin as the starter. But after series-clinching showings against Fossil Ridge and Heritage, Friday might have been the sophomore's strongest outing yet.
Rudkin limited a surging Bell squad to just three hits during the complete-game shutout, aiding his performance with five strikeouts and two walks.
"I was hitting the strike zone a lot better and making them hit the ball," Rudkin said. "I gave up only three hits and walked a few guys, so I was very glad to get out of there with no runs allowed."
It was East's first shutout win since April 5 against Plano West, with Bell able to maneuver just three runners into scoring position all night.
Each time, Rudkin had an answer, retiring 12 of the final 13 batters in Friday's win.
"James threw a great game," said Travis Collins, East head coach. "He just competes; he keeps the ball in the zone and keeps people off balance. He did a great job for just being a sophomore."
The East defense had a say in the outcome as well, most notably in the second inning by scuttling Bell's best crack at a run after Blake Henderson was gunned down at home. A single hit by Blake Gibson was promptly tracked down by junior Ryan Kravik and fired home to senior Clark Kahawaii, who caught the ball with Henderson several feet from the plate for the inning-ending out.
The timely defense meshed with an opportunistic offense that gave Rudkin plenty of breathing room after recording four of its five runs in the second.
After a single into left field by senior Jacob Boucher led to pinch-running senior Matt Wylie scoring the game's opening run, sophomore Ryan Rettke knocked in senior Paul Garcia on a fielder's choice to make it 2-0. The Panthers averted a near-double play by Rettke, who hit a grounder to shortstop Trevor Podsednik, when the ensuing throw to first by Toby Brown sailed wide of Cullen Gassaway at first, scoring the run and keeping the Panthers going.
East made the Raiders pay, with senior Sam Lane proceeding to pound a two-run triple into the left-center gap that scored Boucher and Rettke for a 4-0 cushion.
"You've just got to capitalize on mistakes," Collins said. "[On Thursday], they capitalized on our mistakes and tonight, we capitalized on theirs."
The Panthers added to their lead in the fourth on another Bell miscue, this time in the form of a wild pitch by Bryce Kidwell that allowed Kravik to score from third. While control proved a dicey proposition for Kidwell all evening, the Blue Raiders' hurler did well enough to tame the Panthers' bats, surrendering just four hits while striking out three over seven innings.
It was the absence of those mistakes on East's end that made the most marked difference from the night before, when Bell opened the series with a 7-4 victory.
"We made some errors [Thursday night] that don't show up in the score book," Collins said. "Missing cut-off men and a passed ball or two; just little things that let runners advance and it ended up costing us."
Friday's win kept the Panthers afloat and forced a series-deciding Game 3 Saturday at 1 p.m. from Coppell (results not available at press time).
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