Baseball: Panthers' late rally falls short; Bridge City wins opener, 3-2

May 11—JASPER — A late-game comeback try fell short Friday night as Bridge City held on to stop Bullard, 3-2, in the opening game of a Class 4A, Region III Area series that took place in Jasper.

Game 2 is slated to start at 5:00 p.m. Saturday at the Lufkin High School Baseball Complex.

If a third game needed, it will begin thirty minutes after the conclusion of Game 2.

Trailing 3-1 to start the sixth frame, Bullard began its comeback try with two out. Jachin Salas and Dylan Fowler drew back-to-back walks to set the stage for a base hit to left field by Connor Andres that drove Salas in to score from second and moved Fowler to second.

Bridge City-ace Landon Reeves got back in the groove and retired Reid Overbeek on a fly out to center field to end the inning.

Reeves, the games' winning pitcher, went the distance and gave up two runs, both earned, off of five hits. He struck out five and walked an equal number of batters.

David Wilson suffered the loss on the hump for Bullard. He gave up two earned runs on five hits, fanned nine and issued two free passes.

Chase Randall had a base hit and a RBI for Bullard, while Overbeek and Ben Coke added a base hit apiece.

The Cardinals led 2-1 after one inning of play and added another run in the bottom of the third inning.