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(ALEX HAVARDANSKY | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Tanner Hurford catches an infield pop up for an out Tuesday, April 8. Hurford is the starting second baseman for the Steers. -
(ALEX HAVARDANSKY | THE GRAHAM LEADER) The Steers up at the mound for a mound visit Tuesday, April 8. Graham’s pitching staff was very strong in the game. -
(ALEX HAVARDANSKY | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Mike Garcia takes a swing at a ball Tuesday, April 8 against the Mineral Wells Rams. -
(ALEX HAVARDANSKY | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Ryder Taylor up on the bump for the Steers for their matchup Tuesday, April 8 against the Rams. Taylor was one of two pitchers who had strong performances on the Steers this day.
The Graham Steers ultimately couldn’t get the job done in their 2-0 loss to the Mineral Wells Rams.
Despite the loss, head coach Allen McGee showed a lot of pride in his team postgame.
“I saw the fight there. If we can keep the fight there we can sleep at night,” McGee said. “I told them I love them. I’m always going to be proud of them regardless of the outcome. I liked the fight tonight.”
As the score indicated, this game was very much a pitcher’s duel. Both teams arms were trading masterclass innings back and forth and ultimately things were going to come down to which team made a mistake first.
Unfortunately, that wound up being Graham. The Steers ran into trouble on the basepaths in the top of the third. A mishap in the infield on what could have been a double play and a single to left from Mineral Wells meant the bases were loaded.
Even though Steers pitcher Ryder Taylor composed himself and got two outs with no runs scored, eventually something had to give. That came in the form of Mineral Wells driving a single up the middle into center field which plated the only two runs of the game.
Even with the hiccup inning, Taylor still had a dominant performance, he did not give up another run for the rest of the game and really kept the team competitive despite being down. In particular, Taylor was impressive in high pressure situations.
This included a frame ending strikeout in the top of the fourth to strand runners on first and second while also stranding runners in scoring position in the two innings prior to the third.
“I thought they threw a heck of a game,” McGee said. “I thought all the pitchers just went out there and competed. Outstanding pitching performances.”
The defense also flashed the leather early on in the contest as well. Harison Brockway had a spectacular diving catch at shortstop to strand a runner in scoring position in the top of the first and had to make multiple key pop up outs in the infield.
As for the offense, the team only managed one hit throughout the game. McGee said that this is more of just a one off performance and while the team was making solid contact with the ball, it just wasn’t getting passed the infield for finding the outfield grass.
McGee said that’s just how the game goes sometimes and that he all around respected the fight the team put up in the contest.
After traveling to Mineral Wells for their away matchup, the team will pick things up Thursday, April 17 against Stephenville at 7 p.m.
