KFDM COOP Posted March 25, 2006 Report Posted March 25, 2006 NEDERLAND -- Vidor coach Kyle Green has been on both sides of the bouncing ball in a three-day span and he knows which side he prefers. Tuesday, Green's Pirates downed Port Neches-Groves on a successful first-and-third double steal play. Friday night, Green saw his Pirates lose, 4-3, to Nederland when a seventh-inning pickoff play let the Bulldogs score the winning run. Vidor pitcher Jay Nixon and second baseman Brad Croak missed connections on the pickoff play and as the ball went into the outfield, Nederland shortstop Chris Laird zipped around from second base. Vidor shortstop V.J. Bunner made a perfect relay throw that appeared in time to get Laird. But Pirate catcher Larry Williams couldn't handle the throw. "We'll take it," Nederland coach Cody Robbins said. "We'll take a win anyway we can." The Bulldogs, who were outhit 8 to 4 by the Pirates, scored four runs without an RBI in what could be labeled an episode of "Pirates Gone Wild." Laird scored Nederland's first run in the first inning after being hit by a pitch, moving to second and third on passed balls and coming home on a wild pitch. In the third, he scored Nederland's second run by tripling and scoring on another wild pitch. The other Bulldog run came across in the third when Ryan Sampere tripled with two outs and scored on an error. ,"We pitched well and we played good defense," Robbins said. "But our hitting has kind of plateaued. I'm just waiting for our offense to break through. "At the same time, you've got to take your hat off to the lefty from Vidor. He hit his spots all night long and we didn't adjust well." Junior Cody Whitworth, a player Green moved up from the junior varsity Thursday specifically to pitch against Nederland, threw five plus-innings of four-hit ball for Vidor. He left after he surrendered a leadoff infield single to Matison Smith in the bottom of the sixth. "It was a great pitched game on both sides," Green said. "We were trying to go back-to-back against Mid-County teams and we just came up short." Nederland improved to 3-1 in District 20-4A, 10-6 overall. The Pirates fell to 1-2, 9-8. Before beating PN-G 3-2 and taking Nederland to the wire, Green's team had been run-ruled by Lumberton in its district opener. "This team is like night and day," the coach said. "They played two great games badk to back. But this is a crazy game. "Port Neches outhit and outpitched us and we beat them. They had seven hits and we had five and we walked seven of their batters. That was kind of the opposite of what happened tonight." Pirate centerfielder Daniel Teal was 2 for 3 and six other Vidor players had a hit apiece off Nederland starter Beau Helmke. The Pirates had baserunners in each of the first three innings but failed to score. In the fourth, they trimmed Nederland's 3-0 lead to 3-2 when Brandon Newton doubled and scored on Jack Morrison's triple. Jake Guidry's RBI single scored Morrison. The Pirates tied it in the top of the seventh when Williams singled, went to second on a passed ball and scored on Teal's RBI double. After Teal was erased on a baserunning mistake, Croak singled and Jordan Stanley relieved Helmke and got the final Pirate out. He became the winning pitcher when Laird drew a one-out walk, advanced on Helmke's groundout and scored on the ill-advised pickoff try. "We should never have attempted the pickoff," Green said. "The kid (Nixon) was doing a great job, but then he started thinking too much. "Everybody can focus on the last play of the game, but you've got to look at all the other plays in the game where we had a chance to win the game and didn't
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