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D-Bats silence Thunder
Different Dallas team ends host Four Corners run at CMWS
Herald Staff ReportClick image to enlarge
Photo by JOSH STEPHENSON/Herald
Durango High School alumnus Aaron Coats, who has committed
to play college baseball at Lamar Community College next season, leaps to catch a throw over the second-base bag and Dallas D-Bat Mustangs John Michael Twichell, as Twichell stole second in the top of the third inning of Tuesday night’s game at Ricketts Park in Farmington. Dallas won the third-round Connie Mack World Series game 7-0 to eliminate the Four Corners Thunder from the tournament.
For the second consecutive night, a Dallas-area team defeated the Durango-based Connie Mack World Series host at Ricketts Park in Farmington.
The Dallas Tigers defeated the Four Corners Thunder 5-0 on Monday night to send the locals into the consolation bracket. The Dallas D-Bat Mustangs defeated the Four Corners Thunder 7-0 on Tuesday night to send the locals home after three rounds of baseball.
"We saw a couple of good pitchers," Thunder coach Rob Coddington said late Tuesday night. "Those two guys were pretty good."
The two Dallas hurlers, throwing on separate Connie Mack teams but soon to be teammates at Division I Texas A&M University this fall, handed the Thunder back-to-back shutouts after the latter advanced to the second round of the prestigious tournament with a 7-3 first-round win over the South Troy (N.Y.) Dodgers on Friday.
"They threw strikes, they threw good offspeed pitches," Coddington said. "This was a good experience for our guys that are going to play college ball next year. They saw some stuff here that they're going to see there, so get ready for it."
Both pitchers threw in the low 90s, similar to Sean O'Connor, the Tuesday-night starter for Four Corners. Only O'Connor, one of two pick-ups from Dallas on the home team, struggled to find his command on the mound.
Dallas scored three runs in the first and two in the third against O'Connor to take an early 5-0 lead.
"He was throwing hard, got a couple of outs, but Clayton (Parks) came in and quieted them down," Coddington said of his former starting pitcher at Durango High School.
Parks entered in the fourth and threw 3 1/3 scoreless innings, only allowing one hit.
"He did a really good job (Tuesday night)," Coddington said. "He shut 'em down. He was the highlight of the night, the highlight of the summer, really.
"How much he has improved from his freshman year of college is amazing, and it's a tribute to how hard he's worked at it."
Parks, a late signee to Colorado Northwestern Community College, worked his way from outfielder to starting pitcher and likely will pitch next season exclusively for New Mexico Junior College, with Thunder and fellow DHS alum Tyler McKnight.
Ben Southworth, who will try and walk on to the baseball team at Dartmouth this fall, pitched the seventh inning for the Thunder, where the Mustangs scored their final two runs.
Coddington said Four Corners pitchers issued too many walks, and it's one threat offensively - runners at first and second in the third inning - was foiled on a hard line-drive out to left field off the bat of Morgan McCasland.
"At that point, a couple of runs would've been huge," Coddington said.
heraldsports@durangoherald.com
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