White earns series victory with 8-1 victory
10/27/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Oct. 27, 2007
FORT WORTH, Texas - The White team took home the championship with an 8-1 victory over the Purple squad in the Purple-White World Series. The White squad pounded out 13 hits and was led by Chris Ellington at the plate with three hits and three RBIs. Taylor Cragin continued his strong fall campaign with a complete game effort.White took the early lead in the second inning as the plated a run on two hit and an error. Chris Ellington singled to right with one out and moved to third on Brett Medlin base knock. Tyler Lockwood looked to be out of the jam as he got Eric Givens to ground out. An errant throw to first allowed the first run of the game to score.
Two more runs crossed the plate in the third inning for White as it continued to build on its lead. Ben Carruthers got things started with a single to right. A wild pitch moved him to second where he scored on a Matt McGuirk single up the middle. Hunt Woodruff scored the final run of the inning after reaching on a two-out error and moving to second on another wild pitch. Chris Ellington's second hit of the game brought home Woodruff to make it 3-0.
The Purple team looked like it was ready to climb back in the game in the fourth after Matt Vern doubled to lead off the frame. A ground out from Corey Steglich moved Vern to third. Bryan Holaday worked a one-out walk to put runners on the corners and Steve Ellington drove the ball to deep center field to bring home Vern to make it a 3-1 game.
White kept swinging a hot bat as it broke the game open in the fourth with three runs on five hits. Three straight base hits from Jimmie Pharr, Medlin and Givens loaded the bases with no outs. Matt Carpenter followed with a single to drive in one run, but Purple got a big out as Matt Vern threw out Medlin trying to score from second.
Ben Carruthers looked like he was going to be intentionally walked to set up the double play, but instead reached out and drove a 2-0 pitch to the deepest part of the park for a two-run triple to give White the 6-1 lead.
Cragin biggest jam of the day came in the sixth as he surrendered back-to-back singles to Vern and Steglich with one out. He worked out of trouble with two fly balls to center field to hold the Purple attack at bay.
Chris Ellington delivered the final blow in the bottom of the inning as he drove in two with a two-out double to center field to account for the final score. Cragin worked a flawless seventh to complete the series victory for White.
Cragin tossed seven innings of one run ball, allowing just four hits. He walked three and fanned one. Lockwood took the loss for Purple as he gave up six runs (four earned) on 12 hits. He walked just one and struck out five.
The Frogs will conclude fall practice Sunday afternoon with another clash between the Purple and White teams. Game time is set for 1 p.m. at Lupton Stadium.
