GC Baseball: Tigers play 'Autrey Ball,' down Mabank 3-1
Apr. 7—If you were at Price Field Tuesday and left feeling like you had seen the Tigers' 3-1 win over Mabank before it's because you have.
Honest.
If you follow Heath Autrey's Tigers, you probably felt that way — and for good reason. Don't waste your time looking up a 3-1 victory over Mabank in the past. You won't find one. But it doesn't matter what the final score was or who the team was in the past — Tuesday's non-district win fits Tiger baseball as snugly and tightly as any image ever fit any team.
The well-pitched, well-played victory Tuesday is basic Tiger Baseball 101 and it's part of the secret that whoever or whatever comes through that revolving door that has made up Corsicana baseball for more than a decade — and made this program one of the best in Texas — is all about.
Some people call it small ball. Around here a lot of people call it "Autrey Ball" because it's more about Tiger coach Heath Autrey than a brand of baseball that wins without a lot of Bash-Brother bravado or Murderers' Row muscle.
Nope, small ball doesn't beat up teams, it just aggravates them into a mind-boggling world of frustration. For more than a decade opponents have left Tiger games mumbling under their breath wondering "How did those guys beat us?"
Of course, the answer is simple — because that was the plan all along.
It's all about preparation, repetition, execution, preparation, repetition, execution, preparation ...
That's at the heart of every Tiger baseball season, and at the heart of the heart of this year's 2023 team — a team that had more questions than answers when the season began with the least experienced team Autrey has ever had in Corsicana and greenest squad he has coached since 2007 at Red Oak.
But suddenly these kids look like a lot of Tiger teams — they look like winners.
They're halfway through their District 14-5A schedule and have a 5-1 record after losing a tough 3-0 game to Crandall in the district opener. They've won five district games in a row and Tuesday's non-district win over Mabank gives them a seven-game winning streak.
Still, no one will give them a chance in their two-game series with Forney next week, but let's just wait and see what happens there ...
Tuesday was an in-your-face reminder of what Autrey Ball can do for a team that wants to dive in head-first, work like crazy to get better, and do it all over again day after day after day.
The game winning pitcher was Ryan Ainsworth, who would have been the surprise of the year if he hadn't worked so hard for so long to climb onto the Tiger mound. Once he got there he knew what to do. The result has been an impressive start (after start after start) this season.
Ainsworth has been brilliant. He's 6-0 with a 0.83 ERA and after giving up just three hits and one earned run Tuesday, he has allowed just five earned runs in 42 innings this season.
The Tigers scored three runs on just six hits and made everything count.
They scored a run in the first when leadoff hitter Adrian Baston started the inning with an appropriate bunt-single (the calling card for Autrey Ball) and moved to second when Easton Autrey (the coach's son who is just a freshman) walked. And — this is important — Easton, who had just hit his first high school home run in the previous game, was patient at the plate.
Brydan Hernandez, a senior and four-year starter who is coming off a sensational season on the mound and at the plate, where he was the Golden Circle Co-Player of the Year and a Class 5A first-team All-State player, singled to load the bases. Then Baston scored on a passed ball. It was his 27th run in 21 games. One run two hits.
The third inning had the same vibe.
Henandez walked and moved to second on Blane Farmer's sacrifice and reached third on Jace Richardson's single and scored on Dylan Anderton's grounder to short — one run, one hit.
The Tigers added a huge run in the fifth, when — just like in the first, the run came sliding home. Farmer walked and raced to third on Richardson's single to center, giving the Tigers runners at first and third — the perfect recipe for a double steal.
That's exactly what happened as Richardson bolted for second and Farmer came sliding home. One run, one hit.
That's Autrey Ball — and a seven game winning streak.
