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Highlanders sweep Temple

Posted at 9:30 PM, Apr 26, 2017
and last updated 2017-04-26 22:30:58-04

The No. 2 McLennan Highlanders swept their conference doubleheader with the Temple Leopards this afternoon at Bosque River Ballpark.

Game one was a pitcher's duel with the Highlanders defeating the Leopards 2-1 with walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh. Palmer Wenzel got the win for McLennan on the mound.

McLennan scored first with one run in the bottom of the second. Brendan Venter drew a lead-off walk and moved around to third on a ground out by Brock Morrison followed by a fly out by Cole Haring. Mario Vela then drew a walk and Venter scored on a single by George Callil.

Temple tied the game with a run in the top of the sixth as Coby Potvin was hit by the pitch, moved to second on a McLennan error and scored on a single by Preston Macik.

The Highlanders scored the winning run in the bottom of the seventh. Nic Motley led off with a double and moved to third on a wild pitch. Josh Breaux drew a walk, putting runners on the corners. Venter followed with the single through the second-base gap to score Motley.

McLennan showed their offensive powers in game two as they defeated Temple 6-3. Logan Freeman got the win on the mound and Josh Breaux picked up the save.

The Highlanders jumped out to an early lead, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first. Chris Roller drew a lead-off walk and Joe Breaux followed with a two-run bomb over the rightfield wall. Motley then walked, moved to second on a single by Josh Breaux, advanced to third on a fly out by Venter and scored on a single by Griffin Paxton.

Temple scored one run in the fifth. Jacob Stegent and Taylor Bright both singled and advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Jaylon Brooks. Stegent then scored on a ground out by Michael Davila.

McLennan added two runs in the bottom of the fifth. Roller doubled and scored on a double by Motley. Motley then moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a balk.

The Leopards final two runs came in the top of the seventh. Brooks was hit by the pitch and Davila walked. Blake Jones followed with a single to score Brooks. Potvin then singled to score Davila.

The Highlanders rounded out the scoring with a run in the bottom of the seventh as Roller doubled, moved to third on fly out by Motley and scored on a single by Josh Breaux.

"The story of today's game was that our pitching was really good and what it needed to be for us to win. It was a great day to pitch with the win blowing in and our pitchers really did a nice job of filling up the zone," head coach Mitch Thompson said. "Bailey Horn was outstanding, getting the start in game one and really competed well for us. Then Wenzel came in and got two outs on two pitches and ends up getting the win. Horn was great, only giving up one run in six plus innings. In game two, Freeman was great with his start and we had three relievers come in and finish it off."

"I'm really pleased with the way we played defense and the way we battled on the mound. With the wind blowing in as strong as it was, it obviously wasn't as good of a day offensively for us as it could have been. We had several balls that were really hit hard that on most days, might get out of the ballpark but didn't today."

"It was two well played, hard-fought games with two teams really competing hard. Both these teams are trying to get to the post season and Temple always give us a great game, and the obviously did today. The challenge now will be to go to Temple and try to pull off another couple wins, keep battling, and just continuing to get better."