The Bowie baseball team started district this week playing possibly two of the top teams in Jacksboro and Iowa Park.
The Jackrabbits beat the Tigers 1-0 on Monday, but fell to the Hawks 6-1 on Thursday.
Bowie came into the week after a good 4-1 run at its hosted Walker Stallcup Tournament. Jacksboro has been one of the tougher teams in the district the past two seasons for the Jackrabbits and were returning a good core of the team that beat them twice last year in close contests.
Bowie started the game with Brody Armstrong getting on base with a single and advancing to third base, but could not get him home.
Freshman Edmond DeLeon got the start on the mound for the Jackrabbits and was under fire in the first three innings. In each one Jacksboro was able to get two base runners on base, while in the first and second inning there was a runner on third base.
Somehow DeLeon and the defense got out of these situations giving up no runs until Bowie broke the scoreless tie in the fourth inning.
Tucker Jones led off with a single. He advanced to second on a passed ball and Carson Sanders laid down a sacrifice bunt to get him to third with one out. Another passed ball then allowed him to score to put the Jackrabbits up 1-0.
It seemed momentum had turned to Bowie’s favor. Kynan DeMoss and Troy Kesey drew walks to put a runner in scoring position and put pressure on Jacksboro after not having any luck in the previous two innings. Even without the Jackrabbits adding any more runs, it showed Bowie was threatening.
Besides an error in the outfield that got one runner on base for Jacksboro, the Jackrabbits shut down the Tigers’ offense heading into the fifth inning.
With two outs, Armstrong hit a double and later advanced to third base on a wild pitch. Jones drew a walk to put runners at the corners, again threatening to add to Bowie’s lead. Unfortunately, the next batter flew out to left field to end the scoring chance.
Jacksboro came back threatening to score again, getting two base runners on with two outs and one good hit into the outfield away from possibly tying the game. Again DeLeon and the defense came through inducing a fly out into right field to keep Bowie in the lead heading into the sixth inning.
The Jackrabbits got two runners on base as Seth Hall reached on a fielding error and A.J. Whatley drew a walk. Unfortunately that would be it for Bowie with the next batter grounding out for out three.
A leadoff walk for the Tigers almost ended up being the tying run. The runner later stole second base and then advanced to third base on a sacrifice bunt.
DeLeon then struck out the next batter and Jones then tagged the runner out during the next at bat when he tried to steal home for out three.
Bowie had no luck getting anything going offensively in the seventh inning meaning it would have to shepherd its one run lead.
Carson Sanders came in to pitch the final inning to get the save. He struck out the first batter before hitting the next one and allowing a single to put two runners on base. Sanders then struck out the next one but then walked the fifth batter to load the bases up with two outs. Sanders then induced a fly ball to right field for the final out to secure the Bowie win 1-0.
It was a good win for the team in a district that is looking to be as tough as it’s ever been with the inclusion of another expected playoff team with Iowa Park dropping down from 4A.
Bowie faced the Hawks three days later on Thursday at home.

To read about the next game, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.