Pitching propelled the Wylie Pirates baseball team to a district championship, now it’s helping the team through the postseason.

After taking care of business in the bi-district round in beating Horn in two games, Wylie swept Waxahachie in two close contests. The Indians ranked No. 8 in The Dallas Morning News’ area poll struggled to find consistent hits against the Pirates. Wylie won game one Wednesday night 2-1 in Royse City before traveling to Duncanville Thursday night, ending the series with a 2-0 victory.

Reese Bassinger led the way for the Pirates, pitching a complete game shutout while only surrendering three hits and striking out nine batters in the contest. The Indians could only get a runner in scoring position twice all game — once in the bottom of the first inning and the last time in the bottom of the sixth — but each time Bassinger and the Pirates defense were able to close the door. Along with the nine punch outs, Bassinger forced two double plays in the game to prevent any Waxahachie rallies.

Wylie scored its first run in the top of the third inning. After Evan Ballast doubled and Dawson Cox singled to lead off the inning, Canyon Hall was able to bring across Ballast with an RBI ground out. Wylie later scored their second run in the fifth off of a Waxahachie error and that was all the insurance runs needed to clinch the area championship.

With the win, Wylie moves on to the regional quarterfinals, where they’ll take on the winner of Rockwall and Midway. Rockwall won game one 4-3 on Thursday night.

See the full story in next week’s edition of The Wylie News

By Kyle Grondin • [email protected]