Northeast Texas baseball roundup: Atlanta wins, Maud and DeKalb lose in early zone rounds

ATLANTA, Texas — Atlanta put on a show for its home crowd Thursday, as it took just five innings to dismantle Elysian Fields, 12-2, in Game 1 of the Zone Round opening series.

The best-of-three home-and-home series continues Friday at 7 p.m. at Elysian Field in Waskom, Texas. If necessary, the third game will take place on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Carthage, Texas.

Trailing 1-0, the Rabbits managed five unanswered runs before Elysian Fields was able to stop the bleeding in the fourth inning with his second – and final – score of the game. Atlanta continued to pile on five more in the bottom of the fourth and two more in the fifth to end the game early.

Atlanta scored 12 runs on 14 hits while limiting the Yellowjackets to six hits.

Easton Ownes and Eli Mitchell led the Rabbits with three hits, while Peyton Harrison, Jaden Riley, Cason Whatley and Brady Partain each added two. Starting pitcher Eli Stevens earned the win, striking out two and walking two.

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Beckville 2, Maud 1

WINNSBORO, Texas — Beckville’s Brady Davis hit a game-winning double to lift the Bearcats to a 2-1 victory over Maud in the 10th inning of Game 1 of the Area Round opening series on Thursday.

Similar to their previous bi-district series against Como-Pickton, the Cardinals find themselves in a must-win situation in game two to avoid elimination. The game is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. Friday in Winnsboro, with a potentially deciding third game following shortly after, if necessary.

Maud’s only score came in the sixth inning when Brock Windham hit a double to left field to score Cason Leavitt. Graham Hawkins, who led off the inning with a single, was thrown out at home plate while trying to score the second run on Windham’s double.

Rip Thomas, Windham and Trentyn Sisson each had a team-high two hits in the loss. Thomas struck out six and walked three in 7 1/3 innings.

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Rusk West 6, DeKalb 3

MARSHALL, Texas — Trailing 5-0 in five, DeKalb rallied for three runs in the final two innings, but it wasn’t enough as West Rusk held on for a 6-3 victory in its first game of the area round Thursday.

The Bears will try to even the series on Friday. Game 2 will begin at 7:30 p.m. at Marshall. If necessary, Match 3 will take place at 2 p.m. Saturday at the same site.

DeKalb scored two runs in the sixth inning. With the bases loaded, Aidan Vera was hit by a pitch, allowing Cortlen White to come home. In the next at-bat, Dom Dunn relied on a fielder’s choice to score Mason Salinas.

The Bears’ final run in the seventh was an RBI single by Salinas to score Keiwon Neal.

Cortlen White led DeKalb with two hits, and White, Tanner Copeland and Dunn combined for five strikeouts, five walks and six runs – two earned – on just five hits.