DeLeon’s Bearcats will play first game in Abilene a little out of the norm

Graduation schedule forces noon game for the Bearcats

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BY RUSSELL HUFFMAN
TheFlashToday.com

It doesn’t take a baseball fan very long to figure out what kind of a baseball team the De Leon Bearcats are if they just take a glance through the statistics.

Let’s see two pitchers that have pitched 39 or more inning and no losses. CHECK!

A team batting average of .395. CHECK!

Six players batting .406 or better DOUBLE CHECK!

A fielding percent of 96.4 TRIPLE CHECK!

Need one say more?

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DeLeon is loaded in 2018 with a 23-2 overall record and perhaps the most impressive thing about that mark is the Bearcats started the season 1-2. Since dropping a 7-6 game to Hamilton March 2, the Bearcats haven’t lost a game going 22-0 since that time.

Pitching has obviously helped the Bearcats and DeLeon has ridden the arms of Bryce Whiteley (10-0) and Kevin Yeager (8-0) while pounding out hit after hit at the plate. Both players have been a force at the plate too. Whiteley has a team-leading .508 average and a .708 slugging percentage.

Yeager’s clean pitching slate has been highlighted by 60 strikeouts and just 15 walks in 39 innings of work. Jake Sanders who picked up both victories in the regional quarterfinals while pitching in relief and three saves in 27 innings of work.

At the plate, DeLeon gets production from its entire roster with players like Blake Bellomy 34 hits, Joey Garcia 10 doubles, Yeager and Mattson Locke two triples, Whiteley and Martin two home runs highlighting the statistics.

There’s a clear absence big hitting as the Bearcats specialize in hitting the ball to open spots and it’s game they work on every day toward the end of practice. The drill features a 7-on-7 mini-scrimmage (three minutes a side) where there is no catcher and a coach is throwing pitches. The idea is to reach third base for a score and the action gets as intense as a real game.

Intensity along with an even keel is just what the Bearcats will need against New Deal a team that also carries a gaudy win record of 26-3. A serious positive for DeLeon is New Deal is beatable with Post tagging them with a 9-6 loss sandwiched around their 8-5 and 15-8 wins.

New Deal’s two other losses came in back to back games in late March with 6-0 and 11-10 miscues against Floydada and Abernathy

DeLeon versus New Deal

Game one is scheduled for noon Friday at McMurry University in Abilene and admission is $8 for adult and $5 for students. The out of normal game time is to accommodate graduation for both schools Game two is set for noon in Snyder and if a game three is needed it will follow 30 minutes later. Admission for Saturday’s contest is $5 for adults and $3 for students.

# Roster IP GP GS W L SV SVO BS SV% H R ER BB SO HBP ERA WHIP
27 Blake Bellomy 22.0 10 5 4 0 1 2 1 .500 19 11 7 14 29 6 2.227 1.500
17 Bryce Whiteley 47.1 13 11 10 0 0 0 0 .000 17 8 6 29 73 7 .887 .972
5 Jake Sanders 27.0 13 0 0 1 3 3 0 1.000 14 10 7 19 36 0 1.815 1.222
4 Joey Garcia 4.0 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 .000 1 0 0 3 10 1 .000 1.000
8 Kevin Yeager 39.0 13 7 8 0 0 0 0 .000 16 9 7 15 60 4 1.256 .795
7 Mattson Locke 7.0 5 1 0 1 0 0 0 .000 4 9 3 8 5 2 3.000 1.714
Roster GP PA AB H 1B 2B 3B HR RBI R HBP BB SO AVG OBP SLG
Blake Bellomy 25 91 81 34 25 9 0 0 29 19 4 6 12 .420 .484 .531
Bryce Whiteley 24 93 65 33 24 7 0 2 26 31 4 21 9 .508 .624 .708
Calvin Martin 18 71 56 27 18 6 1 2 19 28 3 11 6 .482 .586 .732
Chase Beck 20 71 55 20 17 3 0 0 18 21 5 10 9 .364 .500 .418
Chris Cox 11 34 32 13 12 1 0 0 6 12 2 0 3 .406 .441 .438
Colton Smith 10 21 18 6 5 1 0 0 5 1 1 0 4 .333 .333 .389
Jake Sanders 25 81 65 16 13 3 0 0 17 11 4 7 8 .246 .355 .292
Jeffrey Hodges 20 24 14 3 3 0 0 0 3 17 1 7 7 .214 .500 .214
Joey Garcia 25 89 72 28 17 10 1 0 23 4 4 12 16 .389 .500 .556
Jorge Gonzalez 11 3 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 13 1 0 0 .500 .667 .500
Kelan Hodges 13 49 37 16 12 3 1 0 11 14 3 7 6 .432 .553 .568
Kevin Yeager 23 96 71 27 19 5 2 1 16 29 10 14 10 .380 .537 .549
Kyler Shafer 2 6 3 2 2 0 0 0 0 2 1 1 0 .667 .800 .667
Landon Wilkerson 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Mattson Locke 25 99 75 31 23 6 2 0 23 24 4 20 14 .413 .556 .547
Orson Sylva 4 5 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 2 1 .000 .400 .000
Tony Evans 13 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 1 0 0 .000 .333 .000
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1 Comment

  1. Maybe the greatest group of multi-sport athletic champions in the history of DeLeon High School. There has been some good ones in Bearcat history.

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