Decatur High School baseball coach Chris Carter saw something Tuesday night in Bowie that he has expected all along. The first-year coach watched as his team played good defense behind starting pitcher Colton Cangley.
It was not an error-free game, but it was perhaps the best showing in district play and it came at a time when the Eagles had to win to stay in the playoff hunt. They pounded out two home runs and eight hits to beat the Jackrabbits 4-0.
Cangley had a lot to do with why Bowie never found home plate. The standout right-hander only allowed four hits for the night and just two runners made it into scoring position. One of them, however, was picked off at third base on a spectacular throw from catcher Ryan Cangley to Andrew Gage.
The pitching performance as well as several crucial defensive plays allowed Decatur to stay in the middle of the race by moving to 3-3 in District 8-3A play and 10-9 for the year. BHS slipped to 2-4 and 6-13.
Cangley wasted no time making sure his team got the only run it needed. He ripped a one out, solo home run over the right center field wall to put DHS in front 1-0.
The Eagles threatened to make it a bigger lead in the second inning when Fernando Perez smacked a double to center field and Zach Gage walked. Bowie, however, got out of the jam without any runs scored.
The Jackrabbits scattered one base hit in each of the first three innings, but they went for nothing.
Decatur tacked on two more runs in the fourth inning to get some breathing room. The locals batted four straight hits to take a 3-0 lead.
Andrew Gage got it started with a one-out single to left field. Brennan Moore followed with a RBI triple to the wall to make it 2-0. Perez scored Moore on a single to give DHS a 3-0 lead.
Bowie's biggest chance to score came in the bottom half of the inning when it lead off with a double. However, the base runner was picked off at third base which ended the inning.
Colton Cangley got better as the innings went on. He struck out the side in the sixth inning and retired six of the last eight batters he faced on strikes.
The Eagles added one more run for good measure in the sixth inning when Perez blasted a shot nearly 400 feet over the massive center field wall to make it 4-0.
District 8-3A Team Overall Dist. Sanger 12-6 5-1 Bridgeport 7-8 4-2 Argyle 12-11 4-3 Pilot Point 6-14 3-3 Decatur 10-9 3-3 Whitesboro 6-14 3-3 Bowie 6-13 2-4 Gainesville 5-13 0-6
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