WALLER — Salado head coach Augie Ramirez knew it would be important for his team to maximize its scoring chances to have a shot against Bridge City in its regional final playoff series.
The problem was the Eagles didn’t have many of those Thursday against the Cardinals’ Brady Havard. As a result, it was Bridge City that took advantage of enough opportunities to claim the opener 6-2 in the teams’ best-of-three Class 4A Division II Region III final set that got underway at Waller’s Bulldog Field.
Havard allowed one run on four hits and struck out four in 6 1/3 innings, and relievers Slade Herman and Max Pachar finished off the victory for Bridge City (25-6-1), which won for the sixth time in seven postseason games to take a 1-0 series advantage before the teams reconvene at 5 p.m. Saturday at Montgomery Lake Creek for Game 2. A third game, if needed, would follow.
Salado (23-11-1) will have to win both games in order to seal its first state semifinal berth since 2016 after it finished just 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
The Eagles trailed by four runs in the sixth when BJ Amann’s opposite-field single to right marked just their second hit off Havard since the second inning. It was enough to chase the starter, though, and Salado soon cut the lead in half with Brayden Naegele’s one-hop double to left to plate courtesy runner Alex Martinez and Naegele’s run on a balk call after he tagged to third on Brody Cole’s fly out.
That was all the Eagles could manage, though, and Bridge City responded with two runs in the top of the seventh, fueled by a pair of Salado errors. Pachar then shut the door on 10 pitches in the bottom half, sealing the win by getting Kannon Baird to fly out to right for the last out.
A leadoff error and a pair of two-out walks kept Salado starter Owen Curtis laboring in the first. The right-hander needed 29 pitches but denied the Cardinals by getting two fly outs and a bases-loaded fielder’s choice that Owen Tucker slapped up the middle and Curtis deflected to second baseman Cole, who stepped on the bag for the final out.
Bridge City persistently pressured Curtis — who threw two complete games in his first two postseason starts but lasted four innings Thursday — but was 0-for-5 initially with runners in scoring position before breaking through in the third, while the Eagles also let early opportunities slip away.
Naegele, who finished 2-for-3, dropped a single into shallow right then stole second base before Havard struck out Cole with a fastball to leave runners on the corners for Salado in the bottom of the first.
The Eagles also couldn’t do anything with a Jace Light single — his first of two on the night — in the second or Landen Noske’s leadoff walk in the third.
By then Havard began settling in after Bridge City had built a 2-0 edge thanks to Slade Landry’s liner to center that scored Austin Frederick and courtesy runner Landon Leleaux in the top of the third after Frederick and CJ Riojas got onboard with back-to-back singles that bounced high off the turf and over Light’s head at third base.
Two Salado errors — the Eagles committed six overall — and a double-steal helped the Cardinals pad their cushion to 4-0 in the fourth as they continued to make Curtis throw high-stress pitches with runners on base.
Hunter Ford first reached when Cole mishandled his grounder at second and, after Riojas singled for the second time in as many innings, Ford touched the plate when Landry’s shot to third took a hard bounce just before Light tried to glove it.
The ball caromed into the outfield to move the gap to three runs, and courtesy runner Leleaux later gave Bridge City a 4-0 lead when he slid in safely on a well-executed double-steal with two outs.
Curtis eventually got Carson Sauceda swinging for the last out, but his night was done after four innings and 105 pitches. He finished with three strikeouts while allowing five hits and six walks.
Havard, meanwhile, faced the minimum in the fourth and fifth stanzas, retiring 10 straight Eagles before Amann delivered his single into right to jumpstart Salado and chase Havard in the sixth.
The winner of the series will take on Wimberley or Sinton in next week’s state semifinals.