The Collinsville Pirates baseball team cannonballed their way into the regional finals, defeating the Crawford Pirates two games to none May 14.
Collinsville relied on a strong defensive performance to win the first game 6-1 and found a way to withstand Crawford’s comeback attempt to win the second meeting 6-4.
“[We] played really well in the first game, and in the second game, we kind of struggled with some plays towards the end, but, overall, we did what we do,” Collinsville head baseball coach Derrick Jenkins said. “There's just so many things that we do well that the other team has to prepare for, and we did it all for both games and came out with two wins.”
Collinsville raced out to an early 2-0 lead after a fly ball single to center by first baseman Cash Morgan and a ground ball double to left field by pitcher Garrett Trevino drove in two runs.
Collinsville would add two more runs in the third and fourth innings with a pair of singles from Trevino and third baseman Jaxon Jenkins, pushing the score to 4-0 in favor of Collinsville.
Collinsville’s defense continued to put the clamps on Crawford’s batters, allowing Collinsville to outscore Crawford 2-1 and take the win 6-1.
Trevino led the way for Collinsville’s defense in Game 1, striking out six batters and allowing three hits and one run.
He also led his team in the batter’s box, going two for three at the plate with two RBIs, followed by Morgan and Paxton Davidson, who also added two hits apiece.
“I knew I had to shove and spot up because [Crawford] can really hit, but I did my job on the mound,” Trevino said. “In the batter’s box, I’m behind three of what I think are the best hitters in the state, so I didn't feel any pressure.”
Game 2 was more of the same early on, with Collinsville racing out to a five-run lead with timely hits and capitalizing on errors from Crawford’s defense.
Crawford cracked the scoreboard with a two-run burst in the top of the fourth inning, making it a threescore game.
Collinsville added another run in the bottom of the inning, and Crawford responded with a triple to center field that drove in two runs.
Despite Crawford’s lategame heroics, Collinsville held on to take the win 6-4.
“We prepared well for Crawford, knew what was coming, and our guys shut them out,” Morgan said. “Our pitchers—Cason Schafer, Garrett Trevino and Jaxon [Jenkins]—they shoved, did a great job on the mound, and got the job done.”
With the regional finals on the horizon, Derrick said the team is looking forward to having another chance to compete in the state tournament.
“It’s special, and that's the thing we talk about all the time,” he said. “We never talk one game at a time, and that’s what we've done here our whole careers. We talk about what we want to do, speaking into existence, and we want to win a state championship, so we're talking about being there and what it looks like and how much fun it's going to be.”
Collinsville was scheduled to meet the Muenster Hornets in the regional finals for a best-of-three series, with a double header on Thursday and Game 3, if needed, scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday.
All games will be played at Braswell High School in Little Elm.
Collinsville pitcher Garrett Trevino brings the heat during Collinsville’s 6-1 win over Crawford on May 14. Collinsville swept Crawford two games to none to move on to the regional finals.
Jenna Howard/ The Post-Signal
