The Bowie Jackrabbits closed out district play and their final home game Tuesday night with a win against Henrietta.
The Jackrabbits won 6-2 after taking the lead in the second inning and never looking back.
Bowie employed the young Troy Kesey his fifth start on the mound a week after his season high 14 strike out outing against City View.
The Bearcats struck early, hitting three singles in the first inning and taking the lead 1-0. The Jackrabbit hitters tried to be aggressive in response with making contact. Kawlyer Swearingin and Logan Hutson got on bases thanks to fielding errors, but the other three batters balls that went right to Henrietta fielder’s made the plays.
Kesey bounced back after the first inning by retiring all three Bearcat batters in the second inning as Bowie’s defense made the routine outs.
With two outs and no one on base for the Jackrabbits, Jake Fallis started the two out rally by getting hit by a pitch. Edgar Regalado hit a single into the right field that allowed Fallis to advance to third base. An error on the throw into the infield allowed Regalado to reach second base.
Carson Sanders then came through with a line drive to center field that drove in both runners. He was able to advance to second base as Henrietta tried to throw home.
Devin Melton followed with a single to left field so Sanders could come in to score, making Bowie’s lead 3-1.
Melton would steal second and third base before the next batter flew out to end the second inning.
Kesey and the Jackrabbits defense again retired all three Bearcat batters with little trouble in the top of the third inning. Cade Thompson got on base first for Bowie by getting hit by a pitch with one out.
Colton Richey followed with a double. Kynan DeMoss’s pop fly was then dropped for an error to load the bases. Fallis was then hit by a pitch again to drive in one run as the Jackrabbits lead grew to 4-1.
Despite the opportunity for more runs with only one out, two strike outs followed to get Henrietta out of the jam.
A leadoff walk broke up the Bearcats drought of base runners. Fortunately, Kesey would strike out two of the next three batters while forcing the other to ground into a fielder’s choice out.
Bowie’s bats tried to keep the pressure on Henrietta’s defense despite only one real inning with multiple hits. Swearingin drew a walk with one out. Hutson laid down a sacrifice bunt to move him into scoring position and Thompson was then hit by another pitch.
Unfortunately, the next batter flew out to right field as they were left stranded on base.
The Bearcats leadoff hitter connected on his team’s first base hit since the first inning in the top of the fifth inning. A groundout advanced the runner to second base. A wild pitch then moved him to third.
A hit batter followed to put runners at the corners. A groundout to second base allowed one run to score as Henrietta cut the lead to 4-2. Kesey was able to retire the next batter for out three before more damage could be done.
DeMoss led off for Bowie and was able to get on base thanks to an error at third base. A wild pitch and a sacrifice bunt from Fallis moved him to third base. Regalado came through with a single to right field to drive in DeMoss.
Regalado then successfully stole second base and was allowed to advance to third base when the Bearcats tried to pick him off at second and committed an error.
Sanders followed by drawing a walk before Melton hit into a fielder’s choice at second base that allowed Regalado to score, upping Bowie’s lead to 6-2. A fly out followed for out three.
Despite Henrietta leading off with a drawn walk and a ground out advancing the runner into scoring position, the Jackrabbits got the remaining two outs with a fly out to left field and Kesey striking out his fourth batter of the game.
Only Thompson’s single with one out prevented Bowie from having no production with its bats in the sixth inning. The Jackrabbits four run lead would have to stay heading into the final inning.
A dropped third strike for strike out number five was saved with a throw to first. A walk followed as the Bearcats were not looking to role over so easy. The next batter hit into a game-ending double play though as Bowie won 6-2.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.