There probably wasn’t a better example of an in-county baseball rivalry game than last Tuesday’s Mineola vs. Quitman game. Both teams were desperate for a win, and as the home side, Mineola walked-off the game with a seventh inning comeback, 6-5. 

For a baseball purist the game may not have been remarkable – the teams combined for nine errors – but for sheer competitiveness and power-of-the-will, it was among the best.

The Bulldogs led 5-4 when they took the field in the bottom of the seventh. Davis Watson returned to the mound having put together an excellent six innings of pitching. 

He had breezed through the first four innings, giving up four singles, striking out four and issuing two free passes. In the fifth he began to tire, walking two. In the sixth a wild pitch allowed a Mineola run. 

The seventh just went all wrong for the Bulldogs. Calem Redding led off at the top of the order. A tough ground ball chance at third resulted in a throwing error and put Redding in scoring position.

A wild pitch put him on third. Beckham Bowker cracked a sharply hit grounder to shortstop. Momentary indecision in the field led to a hurried throw to first, and Bowker beat the throw for an infield base hit.

With two on and no outs, Matthew Ballew stepped to the plate. He feigned bunting and took the first pitch. Bowker stole second unopposed. 

Ballew then hit a sharp two-hopper which went right back up the middle for a clean single. 

There was no chance to get Bowker coming home from second, and the Yellowjackets had a walk-off victory.

Ballew embodied some of that aforementioned willpower. He came on in the fourth, after Redding had recorded three solid innings (2 H, 6 K, 2 BB) from the mound.

Quitman didn’t make it easy. They tagged Ballew for five hits – including back-to-back doubles – off the bats of Juan Rameriz and Logan Davis – which gave Quitman a 5-3 lead midway in the sixth.  

In the top of the seventh, during a long Quitman timeout, Ballew just glared motionless from the mound. He ended the inning with a strike-out. 

When the home team came up in the seventh, the general feeling in the ballpark was that something was going to happen. Either the Bulldogs would gut-out the last half-inning and take a critical win or the Jackets would rally.  

On this night, it was Mineola’s turn.

Each team stroked seven hits. Bulldogs Lane Harkins, Klayton Meadows, Jimmy Mullican and Logan Davis recorded RBIs. For Mineola Ballew and Bowker tallied RBIs. 

The next chance to see the Bulldogs at home is Friday, April 11 when they host Grand Saline. Mineola will entertain Malakoff on the same night.