Monitor Staff Reports

MALAKOFF–The Malakoff Tigers, after falling in the first game of the Bi-District playoff best-of-three series to White Oak by 13-7 May 2, won the next two games (both played May 3) to advance to the Area round, where they will face Hughes Springs.
The Tigers are scheduled to face the Hughes Springs Mustangs in a best-of-three Area round series for Class 3A Division I starting May 8 at Tyler’s Mike Carter Field. Game 2 is scheduled May 9, while Game 3 (if necessary) would be held May 10.
In the May 2 Game 1 against the White Oak Roughnecks, Malakoff fell behind 5-0 entering the fifth inning.  In the top of the fifth, Malakoff scored seven runs to take a 7-5 lead, but in the next half of the fifth, White Oak tacked on five more runs to retake a 10-7 advantage. The Roughnecks added three more runs in the sixth to secure the victory.
After White Oak scored one run in the first inning of Game 2 held May 3, Malakoff responded with two runs in the second inning. Parker Poteete doubled in those two runs, driving in Wyatt Wallace and Jason Tennyson for a 2-1 advantage.
White Oak tied the game in the fourth inning at 2-2. Malakoff responded with two more runs in the fifth to go back ahead 4-2. That started when Bugg Jones hit a home run to center field. Later that inning, Wallace singled with Jack Hustead on base. Hustead held up at third base while Wallace tried to take second and the resulting White Oak throw toward Wallace allowed Hustead to score the Tigers’ fourth run.
Two more Tiger runs crossed the plate in the sixth. Ryland Schorb hit an infield single, allowing Jason Tennyson to score. Then, Poteete hit into a double play, but the action that resulted allowed Schorb to score, making it 6-2 at that point. White Oak added another run in the seventh, but Tiger pitcher Jaxson Jedlicka shut them down the rest of the way. Jedlicka threw four strikeouts during the complete-game victory. Wallace went 3-for-3, leading Malakoff at the plate.
That set up a winner-take-all situation in Game 3, which Malakoff won 4-3. In the first inning, the Tigers scored two runs. Mike Jones hit a fielder’s choice to score Bugg Jones, then Wallace singled home Hustead for a 2-0 Malakoff lead.
After White Oak scored one run each in the third and fourth innings to tie the game at 2-2, Malakoff took the lead again in the fifth when Bugg Jones doubled home Poteete. Hustead then tripled, scoring Bugg Jones.
Mike Jones was the Game 3 starting pitcher, striking out five Roughnecks. Hustead relieved Jones in the sixth, striking out two White Oak batters. Bugg Jones went 2-for-4 in Game 3, hitting a single and double. Hustead, Wallace and Schorb each were 1-for-3 for Malakoff.