The Bowie Jackrabbits lost their two opening games of district play earlier this week.
The Jackrabbits lost 5-1 against Jacksboro at home on Monday and 7-3 at Iowa Park on Tuesday.
Bowie was coming into the game with a lot of winning momentum from its recent tournament play. It was put to the test as every district game against Jacksboro has been a battle in recent seasons.
The Jackrabbits started Edmond De Leon on the mound and the Tigers got to him early with their base running, small ball ways.
The leadoff hitter used his speed to outrun a big bouncing hit to the pitcher for a single. The base runner then stole second base. A dropped third strike for out one then allowed the runner to advance to third base.
The next Jacksboro batter then grounded out to the shortstop, but it was enough to get the runner on third base to come home and give the Tigers a 1-0 lead.
It looked like Jacksboro was going to add more a fielding error and a single got two more runners on base, but DeLeon induced a fly out to left field for out three.
Bowie bats struggled to get anything going early in the game and while the defense committed one error and later allowed one single, De Leon and team settled down to shut down the Tigers’ offense for the next four innings.
The Jackrabbit bats finally got on base in the fifth inning as Seth Mann drew a walk with two outs.
He would successfully steal second base and then Cy Egenbacher followed with a single to put runners at the corners. Unfortunately, the next batter flew out to centerfield for out three.
Jacksboro’s bats then woke up in the sixth inning. A single followed by a double drove in one run. A base hit then drove in another run to make it 3-0 for the Tigers.
In the seventh inning Jacksboro added to its lead. With Rayder Mann coming in to pitch in relief, a hit batter, a triple and a wild pitch allowed two more runs to score for the Tigers.
Bowie was down 5-0 with its last three outs in the bottom of the seventh inning.
With the backs against the wall, the Jackrabbits offense found some success.
De Leon blasted a ball to third base that induced an error to get a runner on base with one out. Andrew Sandhoff came in to run the bases and stole second base. Seth Mann then hit a ball to the shortstop and beat the throw as Bowie had runners at the corners.
Egenbacher then hit a groundball to the shortstop who committed an error and allowed a run to come in for Bowie. Rayder Mann then hit a single to load the bases up with one out.
Unfortunately, the next batter grounded out to the third basemen, who stepped on third base before throwing to first for a game ending double-play. Jacksboro won 5-1.
De Leon pitched six innings and allowed three earned runs on six hits while he struck out four batters. The defense committed two errors.
Bowie had only three hits and drew one walk while taking advantage of three fielding errors from Jacksboro.
Coach Jason McCoy thought his team played well in a game that is always a low scoring, defensive battle against the Tigers.
“Well pitched game by both starting pitchers, they had some incredibly tough at bats so credit to them,” McCoy said. “They started off with an infield hit with a ton of speed and manufactured a run and from there it was a battle. We just couldn’t find barrels all day, but the boys fought till the end.”

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