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Sinton falls to Rusk in state semis

By MARK MOLINA | Rio Sports Live

Austin — The Sinton Pirates and the Rusk Eagles battled closely with a berth in the state final on the line and were separated by a run in the later stages of the game.

While the Pirates came up empty late, Rusk made the timely hits late in the form of back-to-back RBI singles in the bottom of the seventh to pad its thin lead to pave the way to a 6-3 win in the Class 4A state semifinals Wednesday afternoon at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

Sinton coach Adrian Alaniz said a slow start and a few calls equated to an emotional contest that simply didn’t roll his team’s way.

“It was a neck and neck game until that two-spot in the seventh,” Alaniz said. “I thought a call at home plate was controversial. I thought we got our hand underneath on that passed ball that would’ve put us ahead. A stolen base there and a hard line drive right at somebody…that’s just baseball. We didn’t start off the way we should have. I feel if we would’ve started the game clean, we might be talking about a different story tonight.”

Rusk will now turn its sights to the state title game Thursday afternoon at 6:30 p.m. against Pleasant Grove, which is fresh off a 13-0 drubbing of Stephenville earlier in the day.

Sinton, meanwhile ends its season with a record of 33-6.

Rusk got off to a quick start as it posted two runs in the top of the first inning following an RBI double from Wade Williams.

Rylan Galvan hit a triple to right center and Blake Mitchell doubled to left center in the bottom of the inning to each bring in a run to tie the game at 2-2.

“I feel like we have a really good lineup,” Sinton senior Daniel Trevino said. “We have some guys on our team that can do what they do and score some runs like they did.”

“These guys don’t ever seem to think that there is a dire thing going on out there,” Alaniz added. “They’re a bunch of grinders and they always have that heartbeat. We knew going into tonight it would be tough to score runs against a Vanderbilt commit but honestly our kids weren’t fazed by it.”

Sinton racked up just three hits over the last six innings as Rusk starter JD Thompson picked up the win on the mound, allowing three earned runs on five hits with three walks and six strikeouts.

Rusk pulled ahead in the top of the second after Camdon Hudnall score after a failed pickoff attempt by Sinton to make it 3-2.

After both teams each scored a run in the fourth, neither would bring in runs until back-to-back singles from Brett Rawlinson and Zach Blackmon gave Rusk a 6-3 lead and put the game out of reach.

Blackmon was 2 for 4 with an RBI while Williams was 1 for 4 with two RBI for Rusk. Sinton’s Galvan, Mitchell and Trevino were all 1 for 3 from the plate.

Sinton starting pitcher was chased from the mound after 1.2 innings before giving way to reliever Braeden Brown.