The Farmersville baseball team earned a sweep over Terrell last week despite some early struggles. 

Farmersville (6-2, 12-13) struggled to reach base early in game one of the series April 12 before battling back and winning 14-3 in extra innings. The Farmers battled back down 3-0 with runs in the sixth and seventh before scoring 11 in the eighth inning to win. After looking to see the team take a step forward offensively, head coach Jon Nordin began to see it in the final innings. 

“I wish I could say there was a big change in our approach at the plate, but there really hasn’t been,” Nordin said. “We’ve just had some guys come up big in some spots where we had guys on base. We have been more aggressive stealing bases, hitting and running, and we probably bunted a little more this week, and we feel like that helped. We intend to stay aggressive going forward.”

Trailing 3-1 with two outs in the seventh inning, Brady Gray stepped up to the plate and delivered a two-run double to tie the game and send it to extra innings. From there it was the Farmers who capitalized on the wild pitching from Terrell late in the game to tack on a huge lead late.

“We were fortunate Tuesday night,” Nordin said. “We were down to our last strike when Brady hit the double that got us to extra innings. Our guys did a great job of hanging in that game when things weren’t going our way, and that’s what allowed us to win it.”

Mason Erwin threw a complete game for Farmersville to win, allowing one earned run on six hits and striking out seven batters. Collin Berry came on in relief to get the save in the final inning, striking out two batters. Over three innings of relief in two games against Terrell, Berry allowed no runs on just two hits. 

His second appearance was in game two of the week where Farmersville shut out Terrell 8-0 at home on April 14. Cooper Strawn led the way at the plate for the Farmers with two hits, including a three-run home run in the bottom of the fourth inning. 

Caden Norman earned the win by allowing just three hits over five shutout innings. With four games remaining in district play, Farmersville sits in a three-way tie for first place in the 13-4A standings. 

The two teams they’re tied with are Kaufman and Community, who the Farmers face over the season’s final two weeks. With their biggest tests ahead of them and a playoff spot on the line, Nordin knows his team must continue to play its best baseball to end the season. 

“Kaufman will be a different kind of challenge because I think they’re the most talented team in the district,” Nordin said. “They’ll have good baseball players all over the field and we’ll have to continue to pitch well, not give them extra outs and get hits when we have opportunities to score.”

Farmersville will wrap up the series on April 22 at home before hosting Community next Tuesday in the first game of their final series. Coach Nordin, however, is confident in his team and feels like they’re in a great position to reach the postseason once again. 

Even with our struggles, we’re in a good spot with two weeks left,” Nordin said.  “At this point, we don’t need help from anybody to accomplish our goals. Everything we wanted to do at the beginning of the season is still on the table. This is the best time of year when there should be urgency on every pitch of every game. Our guys are ready for that, and I can’t wait to see how we finish.”

To read the full story, see next week’s issue of The Farmersville Times. Support your community newspaper for less than $40 a year.

By Kyle Grondin • [email protected]