The Lake Creek baseball team totaled three hits against three Friendswood pitchers Thursday at Cypress Falls High School. It was enough to extend the Region III-5A semifinal series.
Lake Creek scored the first five runs of the game and held on for a 6-4 victory in Game 2 of the best-of-three series. Game 3 is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday at Cy Falls.
The Lions rebounded from an opening loss to win their quarterfinal series against Magnolia. They are one win from doing it again, handing Friendswood its first loss of the postseason.
“We’ve been here before,” Lake Creek catcher Parker Smith said. “We’re a team that’s pretty experienced in game three so I think we’ll know how to get it done.”
Smith, who also got the last six outs for the save, produced the Lions’ first hit in the third inning.
Lake Creek already led 3-0, taking advantage of three walks, an error and three batters hit by pitches.
Wyatt Davis and Austin Wiederhold scored first-inning runs, driven in by Davis Lee and Smith. Garrett Marshall reached on an error and scored in the second.
Smith made it 5-0 in his second at-bat, turning on an inside delivery for a two-run home run over the left-field wall.
“I was in my two-strike approach, letting everything get deep,” Smith said. “Thankfully he came with a fastball right in my wheelhouse.”
Left-hander Carson Sydnor made the lead stand, changing speeds effectively along with a solid fastball. The Mustangs amassed four runs on nine hits as Sydnor pitched into the sixth, escaping jams with the help of two double plays.
“I felt like it was pretty good,” Sydnor said. “I felt like they couldn’t really hit and I just kind of threw strikes and let them get themselves out.”
Sydnor struck out five, including a slow breaking ball to freeze one batter with the bases loaded in the second.
The Mustangs broke through in the third as Dane Perry doubled home Payton Adams and Dawson Hinson drove in Perry.
Sydnor avoided further damage and pitched around two baserunners in the fifth, striking out two.
“He just had confidence in all his stuff and put it exactly where he needed to,” Smith said.
Smith relieved Sydnor after two batters in the sixth. Ayden Pearcy’s sacrifice fly with the bases loaded scored pinch runner Landon McGuire, while Perry’s sacrifice fly plated Caiden Wells to cut the lead to 5-4.
Colton Pleasant pitched five strong innings to keep Friendswood in the game, allowing a run on two hits.
But the Lions added an insurance run as Davis doubled to set up Wiederhold’s sacrifice fly. Smith retired the side in order in the bottom of the seventh, striking out two.
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