ABILENE — Even after 19 innings in 20 hours, there was no time for the Lubbock-Cooper baseball team to be tired.
That included its pitching staff.
After dropping Game 2 of the Region I-5A Division II semifinal series against Argyle, Pirates coach Chris Baker implored his team to dig deep for any energy it had left. Perhaps no one took the message to heart more than Gus Cook.
Cook got the ball in the series finale and made his impact felt. The senior allowed one hit in five-plus innings to propel Cooper to a 3-0 win in Game 3 on Friday at Crutcher Scott Field to bounce back and advance to the regional final.
“Coach (Spencer) Henderson pulled us aside (after Game 2), and he was like, ‘We’re not going home yet,'” Cook said. “‘You can be tired later. You don’t want to regret this. You can be tired later, not now.'”
Baker said his plan was always to start Cook if the series went to three games. The righty had experience in the scenario after pitching the Pirates to a Game 3 win over Wichita Falls Memorial in the opening round.
“It helped to be in that situation before,” Cook said. “Relieve some of the pressure and do what I do: throw strikes, fill up the zone and work the batters. And that’s how it went.”
After Argyle’s Brody Bomar spun a two-hitter in a 3-0 win in Game 2, Cook helped Cooper find its offense in the decisive contest. He hit a single and scored three batters later on a two-run error with two outs to give the Pirates a 3-0 lead in the first inning.
“That was good to just score some runs right there and get that crooked number,” Baker said. “I think that kind of gave us some momentum that we needed straight out the gate.”
The early lead gave Cook confidence as well. After leaving a runner stranded at third in the top of the first, Cook continued to work out of jams. The senior had three innings in which he left a runner in scoring position. With a defensive effort to match, Cook kept the Eagles off the scoreboard.
Cook walked five and hit two batters.
He gave up his only hit to start the sixth inning, and Connor Robertson came in relief to maintain the shutout. Robertson assisted on a force-out at home before striking out a batter to end the threat. He earned the save after facing four batters in the final frame.
“(Robertson) competes differently,” Baker said. “He kind of marches to the beat of his own drum. Man, coming in there and doing that, that’s his M.O. I’m very proud of him.”
Baker credited Argyle for a competitive series that had an aggregate score of 4-3. He feels the matchup prepared Cooper for another stiff test. The Pirates will face reigning 5A champion Grapevine in next week’s regional final. The Mustangs eliminated Cooper in the region semifinals last season.
“I don’t know much about them this year,” Cook said. “But if we play our ball game, we should be all right.”
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Gus Cook, Lubbock-Cooper baseball dig deep in Game 3 to take series over Argyle
Reporting by Stephen Garcia, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal / Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
