| Sports
Highlights ’Dogs, ’Cats split
double-header
Monitor Staff Reports
EUSTACE–The hosting Eustace Bulldogs and the Rains Wildcats
split a playoff warm-up double-header Saturday, as the Bulldogs
opened with a 10-0 shutout, while the Wildcats stopped the
Bulldogs 12-2 in the nightcap.
Now 19-10 on the season, the Bulldogs were scheduled to face the
District 14-2A runner-up Teague Lions in a bidistrict playoff
contest at 7 p.m. Thursday (tonight) at Mildred High School,
just south of Corsicana.
 Monitor
Photo/Kerry Yancey
Eustace Bulldog baserunner Blake Ward (front) dives for second
as the cutoff throw comes in to Rains Wildcat second baseman
Dillon Gossett during the second inning of Eustace's 10-0
shutout of Rains Saturday. Ward was safe when Gossett lost
control of the ball, and later scored. Rains came back to defeat
the hosting Bulldogs 12-2 in the second game of a playoff
warm-up double-header.
Teague comes into the contest at 22-3, including a 10-1
district record, while the Bulldogs finished third with a 7-3
mark. Teague lost a first-place playoff with Mildred (19-7, 8-2)
April 29 to fall into the second-place playoff berth.
Saturday’s double-header was played under threatening skies, but
a few light rain showers didn’t interrupt the twin contests.
Now 14-11-1 on the season, Rains came into Saturday’s
double-header as the District 14-3A third-place team, posting a
5-5 district mark behind unbeaten Canton (10-0) and loop
runner-up Wills Point (6-4).
In the opener, the Wildcats couldn’t do anything against Bulldog
ace Braden Strickland, as the senior allowed just one hit and
one walk while notching six strikeouts.
The Bulldogs, however, took advantage of some shaky pitching by
the Wildcats to score twice in the fourth and five runs in the
fifth inning to run-rule the ’Cats.
Eustace opened a 1-0 lead in the first inning and added two runs
in the second, managing to just get past the Wildcat defenders,
who (twice) looked like they were in position, but failed to
hang on to the ball while making the tag.
With a 3-0 lead, Strickland settled in, with decent defense
behind him turning some routine ground-outs in the third, fourth
and fifth innings.
In the bottom of the fourth, Wildcat starter Colton Coffman
started having control problems, issuing back-to-back
bases-loaded walks to give the Bulldogs a 5-0 lead.
Coffman moved to first, and first baseman Beau Shelby came on to
get the final out of the fourth.
In the fifth inning, however, Shelby started having his own
control problems, and the Bulldogs again quickly filled the
bases.
Shelby hit two batters – seniors Addison Scott and Owen Babcock
– on successive pitches to push across two more runs, giving the
Bulldogs a 9-0 lead with one out.
The Wildcats’ third pitcher, Matt Edwards, gave up the winning
run when Blake Ward hit a sacrifice fly to left to make it 10-0.
Eustace finished with six hits, as Scott went 1-for-2 with three
RBIs, Strickland was 2-for-2 with one RBI, Chad Barina was
1-for-2 with an RBI and scored twice, Trevor Lane was 1-for-2
with two RBIs, Ward was 1-for-3 with an RBI and Babcock didn’t
have any hits, but had two RBIs.
In the nightcap, the Bulldogs’ pitching and defense both took a
turn for the worse.
Both Rains and Eustace scored single runs in the first inning,
and the score stayed tied until the top of the third, when the
Wildcats scored to take a 2-1 lead.
Rains added another run in the fourth to make it 3-1, but then
scored four in the fifth, one in the sixth and four more in the
seventh to ice the win.
Starter Nathan Taft took the loss, giving up five earned runs
and eight of the Wildcats’ 14 hits, with Ward allowing five runs
(three earned) on five hits and Sawicki allowing two runs
(neither earned) on one hit.
The Bulldogs, in turn, managed six hits, but just one RBI,
coming on a double (one of two extra-base hits) by senior Jacob
Petillo. Lane also had a double, with Scott, Tyson Oliver, Alex
Pharmakis and Strickland each adding singles.
Wildcat pitchers racked up 10 strikeouts and issued just one
walk in the nightcap, and the Bulldogs didn’t help themselves
with three errors.
Directions to Mildred: From Eustace, take FM 316 south to
Malakoff. Turn right (west) on State Highway 31, and follow it
to Corsicana. Turn left (south) on Interstate 45/U.S. 287 and
follow it south until U.S. 287 splits off; take the 287/Business
287 exit (exit 229) to Palestine. Go about 5.1 miles to Mildred
High School.
‘Green Eggs & Ham ... burgers’
set at TFFC
Monitor Staff Reports
ATHENS–Do you like green eggs and ham ... burgers?
Would you like them with a fish? On a tram? On a dish? You will
like them here, we wish! Would you? Could you? On a plate? Don’t
be late! Come and see them! Watch us cook! Give a look! Make
haste to taste! You will like green eggs with ham ... burgers!
So, here’s the deal...
In recent years, the Big Green Egg has revolutionized outdoor
cooking. But when asked what the words green eggs bring to mind,
most folks will answer “Dr. Seuss,” or the name of one of his
popular books, “Green Eggs and Ham.”
Stay with me just a little longer. This is going somewhere.
The iconic Egg is modeled on a traditional Asian ceramic cooking
concept that has become one of the fastest-growing segments of
the U.S. barbecue industry.
Originally constructed with clay, the Egg is now manufactured
with space-age ceramics that make the cooker virtually
indestructible in normal use. Manufactured by a company
headquartered near Atlanta, Ga., The Big Green Egg is available
in more than 20 countries worldwide.
For years, Athens has been recognized as the “Home of the
Original Hamburger.” (Yes, there are other places that claim
that distinction – more about that later.)
Put the two together and you get Green Eggs and Ham ... burgers,
a friendly gastric get-together known to most as an Eggfest,
which will take place Saturday, May 21, at the Texas Freshwater
Fisheries Center (TFFC) in Athens. (Cooks will gather for
orientation and a social at TFFC the evening of May 20.)
Participants will come from across the country to showcase their
personal recipes, meet with fellow Eggheads, and share some
great food with the crowd.
Visitors can watch cooking demonstrations throughout the day and
experience the Big Green Egg firsthand with the opportunity to
do their own cooking on the Eggs. (You can also go fishing, see
a diver hand-feed fish, and walk our Wetlands Trail to atone for
all the free goodies you scarfed up.) A variety of vendors will
also be on hand with kitchen and grill-related products.
Individuals interested in owning a Big Green Egg cooker may
purchase demo eggs at substantially discounted prices following
the event.
A listing of cooks, registration forms, vendor registration
forms, special event rates for lodging in Athens and other
details about the event can be found at
www.athenseggfest.wordpress.com.
Answers to all your questions about cooking on a Big Green Egg
can be found at
http://www.biggreenegg.com/forums.html.
Now, about those hamburgers.
Local lore has it that the hamburger as we know it (or pretty
close to it) was invented by an Athens resident, Fletcher (“Old
Dave”) Davis, at his Athens café in the 1880s, and introduced to
the world at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair.
(You can read more about the fair and even listen to music of
the era, much of it composed by Texas’s own Scott Joplin, at
http://washingtonmo.com/1904/index.htm.)
A reporter for the New York Tribune wrote from the 1904 St.
Louis World’s Fair of a new sandwich called a hamburger, “the
innovation of a food vendor on the pike” (by “pike” he meant the
World’s Fair midway).
While the food vendor was never named, enough evidence existed
that the person was none other than Fletcher Davis of Athens
that the 80th Texas Legislature adopted a resolution naming
Athens as “the Original Home of the Hamburger.”
To those of us raised in the shadow of the Golden Arches with
billions and billions sold, it seems incredible that Fletcher
Davis never pursued a career flipping burgers after the 1904
fair ended.
“When Uncle Fletch and Aunt Ciddy returned from staying the
duration at the World’s Fair there were several cafes making the
new sandwich,” nephew Kindree Miller told historian Frank X.
Tolbert. “So Uncle Fletch went back to firing pots in our
pottery. He would cook hamburgers at picnics but he never
reopened his little hamburger joint on the north side of the
courthouse square. My uncle was proud of making the first
hamburger sandwich, but he never thought of commercializing on
it.”
I will spare you the details here, but you can read all about it
at
http://www.athenstx.org/live-and-work/history-of-the-hamburger.
Naturally, other towns in other states claim one of their
residents originated what is certainly one of, if not the,
iconic American food.
There’s Charlie Nagreen of Seymour, Wisc.; Frank and Charles
Menches from Akron, Ohio; Oscar Weber Bilby of Tulsa, Okla.;
Louis Lassen of New Haven, Conn.; Bert W. Gary of Clarinda,
Iowa.
All have their supporters – you can read about all of them at
http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/HamburgerHistory.htm.
Or you can just Google “history of the hamburger.” You’ll get
11.1 million hits. Knock yourself out.
It would be a lot more fun to come to Athens May 21 and spend
the day at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center sampling Big
Green Egg cooking and not worrying about who invented the
hamburger, but just being thankful someone did.
Green Eggs and Ham ... burgers is sponsored by Morrison Supply,
Paragon Distributing, Brookshire Brothers Grocery and TFFC.
For information on visiting the Texas Freshwater Fisheries
Center, go to
www.tpwd.state.tx.us/tffc, or call (903) 676-2277.
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