TEXARKANA, Texas -- After evening its three-game series against No. 6 Pleasant Grove last week, eighth-ranked Liberty-Eylau remains in the driver's seat for a District 15-4A championship after sweeping North Lamar, 13-3, on Tuesday night at H.E. Markham Park.
With three games remaining in the regular season, including a what-could-be decisive Game 3 bout against current district leader Pleasant Grove (17-8-1, 11-1) in the regular season finale, the Leopards can ensure the championship with those three wins.
"It's always good to sweep North Lamar," Liberty-Eylau coach Zach Fowler told the Gazette. "They were in third place so, with that win, that secures either first or second place for us. The goal coming into the year is to always win district, and as long as we take it one game at a time, it's still a possibility."
Liberty-Eylau (20-6-1, 10-2) opened the game by giving up all three runs to the Panthers in the first inning after six walks.
The Leopards, however, answered back with two of its own in the bottom of the frame and took control of the contest with an explosive five-run second inning to take a 7-3 lead.
North Lamar walked W.T. Jones and Triston Haugh in the bottom of the first, and Britain Pipes blasted a two-run double to center field to score them both.
In the second, Haugh again drove in a run with his second double of the game, scoring Gabe Jarvis, and Pipes scored Jones in the next at-bat on a single to right field. Eli Jarvis then hit an RBI single to center to bring home Haugh, and Pipes scored the inning's final run on an error by the Panthers' catcher.
After a scoreless third inning, the Leopards tacked on four more runs in the fourth.
With the bases juiced, Collin Evans was struck by a pitch to bring home Pipes, who drew a walk earlier in the inning. Gabe Jarvis then ripped a two-run single to right field, and Evans rounded out the scoring when he stole home during a pickoff attempt to give the home team an 11-3 advantage.
The state-ranked Leopards added two runs in the sixth on a passed ball that Hagan Power took advantage of and an RBI-single hit by Jones to score Dylan Nabors.
Haugh, Cam Gamble, who got his fifth win of the season, and Jones combined for the no-hitter. The trio struck out nine, walked nine, and allowed the three runs on no hits. Gamble finished with a game-high six strikeouts.
"Cam came in and filled it up for us, throwing strikes and helping us to a combined no-hitter with Haugh and W.T. Jones," Fowler said. Combined no-hitters don't happen very often, but they managed to pull one out for us.
"We swung the bats pretty well [Tuesday] night as well."
Indeed.
W.T. Jones and Pipes led the Leopards with three hits in the win, and Eli Jarvis had two. Jones, Haugh, and Pipes scored two runs, along with one each by seven other players in the lineup.
"We like the depth that we have with our pitching staff and play pretty good defense," Fowler said. "Those two things will keep you in a lot of games. We still feel like we can improve at the plate, which has been our focus as of recently -- making sure we get better there and scoring runs late in the year."
Liberty-Eylau will continue its quest for a district championship while celebrating Senior Night on Friday against Pittsburg. After that, it will travel to Paris on April 23 and to Pleasant Grove on April 26.