The Nocona baseball team felt the full force of state-ranked Holliday on Friday.
The Eagles won 21-0 thanks mostly to a third inning the Indians can only hope to forget.
Nocona had trouble in the first inning getting much contact on Holliday’s pitches. All three batters struck out.
The Indians looked to start the game well on defense as the first two batters were retired with little drama. Then the Eagles’ power hitter hit a solo home run to score the games first run.
A drawn walk followed and it looked like it might snowball into a two out rally. Fortunately, pitcher Wesley Murphey forced a ground out before things got out of hand.
Murphey followed it up with his bat in the second inning as he led off with a single.
Unfortunately, he would be picked off trying to steal second base before he could threaten the defense. The next two batters were retired with a groundout and a strike out.
Holliday would score four runs next to extend its lead to 5-0. The Eagles had two base hits while taking advantage of two fielding errors and one hit batter.
Nocona hoped it could respond in the third inning, but its batters continued to have trouble making much contact as all three struck out.
The third inning on defense for the Indians became one long, bad nightmare that never got better.
The Eagles scored 15 runs in the inning before the third out to make the lead 21-0. Holliday piled on 11 hits during the inning, but also got help with five free bases given up and three fielding errors.
Nocona only hoped it could salvage any good points with the game essentially over.
Trey Pepper got on base by getting hit by a pitch. A batter later, Murphey drew a walk to put two base runners on with two outs. Unfortunately, the next batter flew out to center field.
The Eagles looked like they might add more runs as they loaded the bases up with two drawn walks and a fielding error. Thankfully, the Indians Ty Presley struck out the next batter to avoid any more runs.
Nocona would need to score 12 runs or more to avoid getting run ruled. Vinit Patel was able to get on base to lead off the inning thanks to a fielding error from Holliday.
A ground out advanced him to second base and a strike out put two outs on the board. Miguel Olivares then drew a walk to put two runners on base, but that was followed with a strike out to end the game.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.