It was an exciting day in Gainesville for the McLennan Highlanders as they swept the conference doubleheader with the North Central Lions.
Freshman Logan Henderson pitched the perfect game as the Highlanders shut out the Lions 4-0 in the opening game. Henderson faced the minimum 21 batters in the seven-inning contest and recorded 12 strikeouts.
McLennan's first run came in the top of the second inning. Mason Greer, Dominic Tamez and Alex Lopez all singled to load the bases. Greer was out at the plate on a fielder's choice by Hank Bard. Jaylen Williams then drew a walk, scoring Tamez.
The Highlanders added a run in the third as Garrett Martin doubled, moved to third on a double by Greer and scored on a sacrifice fly by Tamez.
Another McLennan run scored in the fifth. Martin singled and Greer walked. Lopez then singled to score Martin.
The final Highlander run came in the top of the sixth. Bard singled and moved to second a wild pitch. Marquis Jackson replaced Bard as the runner at second, stole third and scored on another wild pitch.
In game two, McLennan defeated North Central 11-2 in seven innings with Jack Hattrup picking up the win on the mound.
McLennan jumped out to an early lead with three runs in the top of the first. Miguel Santos drew a lead-off walk. Blake Jackson and Martin both singled to load the bases. Santos scored on a single by Lopez. Bard then singled to score Jackson and Martin.
The Highlanders added a pair of runs in the fifth. Martin singled and scored on a triple by Greer. Lopez followed with a bunt single to score Greer.
McLennan scored four more runs in the sixth. Izzy Lopez led off with an in-the-park home run. Santos reached on an error and Jackson singled. Martin followed with a three-run bomb.
North Central's only two runs of the day came in the bottom of the sixth inning. Rance Rosas singled and Chase Cromer drew a walk. Anderson Acinger singled to score Rosas, and Cromer scored on a wild pitch.
The Highlanders tacked on two more runs in the top of the seventh. Williams and Izzy Lopez both walked. Williams was out at third on a fielder's choice by Santos. Jackson then reached first and advanced to second on an error, allowing Lopez and Santos to score.
"We had an incredible day today, it started off in game one. Logan Henderson was just phenomenal and in total command, to throw a perfect game is just an incredible, incredible achievement. That's something I've never seen before in 31 years of college coaching. He really only had one three-ball count. It was a phenomenal outing: seven innings, no hits, no walks, 12 punch outs, 21 up and 21 down. It was really, really fun to see that," head coach Mitch Thompson said. "We had two really nice plays on defense to help make it happen but it was a lot of fun to see the team so excited for Logan to get that perfect game. It's so rare."
"Jack Hattrup followed it up with another really solid outing for us. Our relief pitching was good and we did enough to hit. It was a tough day to hit today so we played small ball and had some guys do some things a little different than we've done previously. It was a really good day and to come out of there with a 4-0 shutout in game one and 11-2 run-rule win in game two was sure satisfying."
McLennan 4, North Central 0
McLennan 011 011 0 – 4 9 0
North Central 000 000 0 – 0 0 0
Logan Henderson and Dominic Tamez. Otto Stacey and Nixon Brannan. WP: Henderson; LP: Stacey. Leading hitters – McLennan: Garrett Martin (2-3, 2B), Mason Greer (2-3, 2B), Dominic Tamez (1-2, RBI), Alex Lopez (2-4), Hank Bard (2-3, 2B) and Jaylen Williams (0-2, RBI). Record: McLennan 30-16 (18-7).
McLennan , North Central
McLennan 300 024 2 – 11 11 0
North Central 000 00 0 – 2 6 2
Jack Hattrup, Richard Brinson (6), Gray Harrison (6), Landry Wideman (7) and Hank Bard, Wyatt Childress (7). Angelo Cabral, Skyler Yarborough (6) and Nixon Brannon. WP: Hattrup; LP: Cabral. Leading hitters – Blake Jackson (2-5, 2 RBI), Garrett Martin (3-5, HR, 3 RBI), Mason Greer (2-4, 3B, RBI), Alex Lopez (1-2, 2 RBI), Hank Bard (1-3, 2 RBI) and Izzy Lopez (1-2, HR, RBI); North Central: Anderson Acinger (1-3, RBI) and Isaac Davila (2-3). Record: McLennan 31-16 (19-7).
