Cullen Gassaway hit a three-run double in the fourth inning, giving Hurst L.D. Bell a six-run lead it wouldn’t relinquish in a 6-3 win over District 6-5A rival Colleyville Heritage in Game 1 of the best-of-3 Class 5A Region I quarterfinal Thursday.
Hurst L.D. Bell (29-9) and Colleyville Heritage (29-8) split in the regular season with both games decided by one run. L.D. Bell won the district title with a 2-1 win over Heritage in both teams’ regular-season finale.
Blake Scannell opened the scoring in the first inning with a home run to left field off Heritage starter Alex Gebert.
Gassaway, who finished 2-for-4 with four RBIs, drove in Gavin Gregory with single in the first, giving L.D. Bell a 2-0 lead.
L.D. Bell tacked on four more runs in the top of the fourth on an RBI single by Scannell and Gassaway’s double.
Down 6-0, Heritage scored runs in the bottom of the fourth and fifth.
McKinney Boyd 2, Jesuit 1:
McKinney Boyd defeated Jesuit’s Joe Powell, one of the top pitchers in the area, in the opener of a three-game 5A regional quarterfinal series.
Boyd’s Shane Sharkey tied the score on a passed ball in the third inning. Daniel Cortines scored the go-ahead run in the fourth.
Michael Ricchi pitched a complete game for Boyd, allowing five hits and striking out five.
Lovejoy 6, Argyle 5: Lovejoy — with one of the most potent lineups in Class 3A — overcame a three-run deficit in the bottom of the seventh, scoring the tying and winning runs on home runs to take Game 1 of a three-game series in the 3A Region II quarterfinals.
Mesquite Poteet 6, Texarkana Texas 0: Chad Young (8-0) pitched a complete-game four-hitter while striking out 11 as Poteet (28-6) took Game 1 of a three-game Region II quarterfinal series.
Blake Griffin — who with Young has committed to Navarro JC — stretched a 3-0 lead in the top of the seventh with a three-run home run. Griffin was 4-for-4 with four RBIs.
Kennedale 9, Bridgeport 2: Kevin Marshall's two triples led Kennedale in the opener of a 3A regional quarterfinal series.
Kennedale scored two runs in the first, four in the fourth and three in the fifth. Hayden Elrod pitched six innings.
Palmer 13, Clifton 3: Judge Wolfe and Zach Hobbs each had doubles to lead 10-hit attack for Palmer in the opener of the 2A regional quarterfinal series. Hobbs also was the winning pitcher.