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Big plays by Bean lead Rockwall to 1-0 baseball win over Rockwall-Heath

He keeps runner from scoring as pitcher Lilly holds rivals to four hits

ROCKWALL — Rockwall senior Skyler Bean can consider it a pretty good game when he has to decide whether his game-winning double or throwing out a runner at home was a bigger play in a 1-0 victory over Rockwall-Heath at the RHHS Baseball Complex.

“Throwing the run out at home,” Bean said. “That was bigger. That would have tied the score.”

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Bean supplied Rockwall with its only run with a one-out double in the top of the fourth.

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Rockwall junior lefty Carter Lilly held the normally hard-hitting Heath to four hits in six innings.

Rockwall (19-5, 5-2) jumped into better position to start the second half of the District 12-5A schedule. No. 7 in SportsDay’s 5A area rankings, Heath (17-7, 6-1) suffered its first district loss.

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“Beating them is like picking up a stroke on the rest of the field because they’ll probably give out a lot more losses to everyone else,” Rockwall coach Jeff Payne said.

Bean lined a double to left center for the only run after a walk and single by Nick Lutzel had gotten Heath’s Ryan Kinney in trouble in the bottom of the order. After making a sliding catch for an out down the rightfield line to end the third, the No.9-hitting Bean had the first extra base hit off the normally control-centered Kinney. The senior lefty needed 78 pitches to get through the first four innings.

In the top of the sixth, Bean threw out Heath centerfielder Dylan Brown with a strong throw from second to catcher Garrett Moon. Bean had gotten the relay from Lutzel in right after chasing down a double down the line by Heath’s Bret Boswell. The speedy Brown was trying to score from first after a leadoff walk.

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“We weren’t getting too many chances to score,” Heath coach Greg Harvey said. “(Dylan) is about our fastest player and it’d take a great relay throw. But they made it.”

The defending Class 4A state champs, Heath had won its last three meetings with Rockwall in an intense, but respectful cross-town rivalry.

Both head coaches were once assistants at Rockwall under highly successful Rockwall coach Randy Talley and both programs are tradition rich. Bean’s older brother Steve was selected as the 59 player overall in the draft by St. Louis in 2012.

“We hadn’t beaten Heath since I was a sophomore on a team with my brother,” Bean said. “We’ve been able to beat everyone else. It feels good to get another win from them as a senior.”