Wylie senior Chase Martin and the Pirates baseball team battled in a 4-3 loss to Rockwall in Game 3 of a Class 6A Division I bi-district playoff game on Saturday in Forney. He drove in one run. Rockwall won 4-3. Photo by Elijah Kloepping / C&S Media

By David Wolman

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Photo gallery: https://csmediatexas.dotphoto.com/CPViewAlbum.asp?AID=6885187

FORNEY — All the Wylie baseball team wanted during Game 3 of Saturday afternoon’s Class 6A Division I bi-district playoff series against Rockwall was a chance to win at the end.

Thanks to a clutch, two-out, two-run single by junior Koji Paul in the bottom of the fifth inning, Wylie cut what had been a 4-1 deficit to 4-3 and put itself in position to rally.

However, Paul was the last baserunner for the Pirates. Rockwall pitcher Zach Barnes retired the final seven Wylie batters he faced, with a groundout securing a narrow 4-3 win for the Yellowjackets at Forney High School.

“You always look back as a coach and think about the things that you could have done differently to give the team a better chance, but they did what they were coached to do,” head coach Beau Snodgrass said. “You talk about a good group of kids. Good gracious. So proud of them. They fought until the last pitch.”

Wylie never led in the winner-take-all game, but timely defensive plays and strong pitching from sophomore starter Aiden Beck and senior reliever Wyatt Wynne kept the Pirates within striking distance.

The Pirates came in seeking a better defensive performance after committing six errors in a 9-2 loss in Game 2 last Thursday, and they delivered.

Trailing 1-0 in the inning, Wylie picked off two Rockwall baserunners at first base, with Beck’s second pickoff ending the inning.

The Yellowjackets increased their lead to 2-0 on an RBI single up the middle by Hudson Holt and threatened for more, but the Pirates made Rockwall pay for being overly aggressive on the basepaths. Wylie third baseman Noah Smith tagged out a runner sliding into third, and Beck followed with a strikeout to end the inning.

Beck was at his best late in his outing. He kept Rockwall off the scoreboard over his final two innings and retired the last seven batters he faced. Overall, Beck finished with four strikeouts and worked around seven hits.

“The last two outings that he’s had — the warm-up game and today — he was everything that we knew that he could be,” Snodgrass said.

Wylie turned two more double plays later in the game, the first preventing Rockwall from taking firm control. The Yellowjackets plated two runs in the fourth, and Wylie then issued an intentional walk to Holt to load the bases. Moments later, a key double play helped the Pirates escape the jam. Smith threw to catcher Preston Camp for the second out, and Camp then threw to senior first baseman Chase Martin to complete the double play.

Wylie turned another double play in the seventh inning, this occurrence after Rockwall had two on with zero outs after being issued back-to-back walks.

“The day off helped, especially because we didn’t have the momentum after Game 2,” Snodgrass said. “We played really well in Game 1. In Game 2, we were pretty sloppy. It did help us refocus a bit. These guys have answered the bell all year long. I can’t say enough good things about them.”

Those defensive plays gave Wylie’s offense a chance for a breakthrough.

Martin drove in the Pirates’ first run with an RBI single, and Paul later cut the deficit to 4-3 with his two-out hit in the fifth.

However, Wylie came up just short. The Pirates ended their season with a 20-15 record.

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