Diboll Fights Back for 5-3 Game 1 Victory vs. Silsbee in Class 3A Region III Baseball Final

[By David Berry, Special to ETSN.fm]

HOUSTON -- The Diboll crowd was on edge with seemingly every ball and strike called during the game.

But in the sixth inning, they could sense a comeback. The balls started rolling the Lumberjacks way, literally.

Facing a 3-1 deficit, Diboll used a four-run sixth inning to propel the Lumberjacks to a 5-3 Game 1 victory over Silsbee in the Class 3A Region III championship series at the University of Houston's Cougar Field.

With the win, Diboll not only puts itself one win away from a trip to Austin for the 3A state tournament, but the Lumberjacks handed Silsbee ace pitcher Tyler Powell (11-1) his first loss of the season.

"He's good," said Diboll coach Edd Trotter of Powell. "He just kept us off (guard). He'd get ahead, then he'd start throwing his junk pitches and we couldn't sit back."

Game 2 is 3 p.m. at Rice University's Reckling Park. Game 3 will follow if necessary.

While the Lumberjacks and their fans gained energy as the game progressed, Powell seemed to wear down.

In the sixth inning, Powell walked the first batter and allowed a single right after that. Diboll's Alex Grimaldo tied the game 3-3 when his line drive resulted in a run-scoring error. Grimaldo then gave Diboll the lead when he stole third and another error allowed him to race home for a 4-3 advantage. A Sergio Castillo solo home run sealed it for the Lumberjacks.

"We got here by having fun," Trotter said. "We went up there and had fun (in the sixth inning)."

Silsbee jumped out to a 3-0 lead with a Montana Garcia RBI single and Colby LeBlanc two-run double. Diboll finally got on the board in the bottom of the fourth with an RBI single from Alex Aguilar.