Friendswood diamondmen take care of Milby to advance

May 16, 2023

HOME RUN BLAST
Friendswood's Ryan Duncan, second from right, is met by teammates after his three-run homer during the fourth inning of the second game of an area round playoff series against Milby at Goose Creek Memorial High School in Baytown.
The No. 3 state-ranked Mustangs won the best-of-three series 9-1 and 17-4.

The No. 3 state-ranked Friendswood Mustangs dropped the Milby Buffaloes 9-1 in their first game of the Class 5A Region III best-of-three series at Goose Creek Memorial High School.

The Mustangs took a 3-0 first inning lead thanks to Collin Goolsby who blasted a three-run homer.

Milby managed to score a run in the bottom of the first to close the gap to 3-1, but the Mustangs got an RBI double from Dawson Hinson in the second inning and Boots Landry scored on an error to make the score 5-1.

Friendswood was able to jump in Milby's starting pitcher Arthur Perez who was their ace.

"That was our plan," said Mustangs coach Cory Benavides. "We were hoping we could get on him early because he's a very good pitcher."

Landry added an RBI double in the fourth while a wild pitch and a two-run single from Goolsby in the top of the sixth provided extra insurance.

Easton Tumis took the hill for the Mustangs and pitched six innings of one-run ball, striking out eight.

"We hung in there and fought," he said. "We got a lot of good pitches to hit late in counts. That's a testament to our guys."

Friendswood 17 - Milby 4

Milby surprised Friendswood when they jumped on the Mustangs for an early 4-1 lead in the second game of the best-of-three series, but a mature and patient Friendswood team didn't panic as they rallied to blow out the Buffaloes by scoring 16 unanswered runs to get a 17-4 playoff win in a series sweep.

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CROSSING THE PAYSTATION
Friendswood's Ayden Pearcy crosses the plate to help the Mustangs to a 17-4 thrashing of the Milby Buffaloes to sweep the best-of-three series and advance to the third round of the Class 5A Region III baseball playoffs.
The Mustangs move on to face Barbers Hill in a three-game series beginning on Thursday, May 18 at 7:00 p.m. Game 2 will be Friday, May 19 at 7:00 p.m. Game 3 (if needed) will be on Saturday, May 20 at 1:00 p.m.
All games will be played at Deer Park High School.

"There was a calm demeanor," said Friendswood coach Cory Benavides when he replaced starting pitcher Houston Rhodes in the top of the third. "I wasn't going to yell at them. I just needed them to be calm, and that's the confidence they have in themselves."

Rhodes allowed just two hits, but a defensive lapse led to a pair of runs in the top of the first before Arthur Perez's opposite field homer gave Milby a 4-1 lead.

The Milby crowd got a wave of overconfidence and began to chant "overrated" to the Friendswood faithful which turned out to be a huge mistake as the Mustangs thrashed Milby the rest of the way.

The Mustangs scored nine times in the bottom of the third, with the key hit being an RBI triple from Blake Encarncion that was followed by a run-scoring single from Peyton Adams and an RBI double from Ayden Pearcy to give Friendswood a 10-4 lead.

The offensive frenzy continued in the bottom of the fourth. Ryan Duncan blasted a three-run homer to left field before Boots Landry smashed a bases-clearing triple and Dane Perry's sacrifice fly finally put the finishing touches on the Mustangs' 17-4 win.

The Mustangs move on to face Barbers Hill in a three-game series beginning on Thursday, May 18 at 7:00 p.m. Game 2 will be Friday, May 19 at 7:00 p.m. Game 3 (if needed) will be on Saturday, May 20 at 1:00 p.m. All games will be played at Deer Park High School.