By Todd Wills CNHI

Corsicana — For season openers, Tuesday’s doubleheader between Navarro and Blinn was just about what you would expect.

The combined walks — 17 — were more than the numbers of runs scored. There were several wasted chances at the plate as each team left the bases loaded twice in the second game. There was a poor relay throw into the Buccaneers dugout that cost the Bulldogs a possible sweep.

Navarro came away with a split against Blinn, winning the first game, 4-3, and losing 5-4 in the second game on opening day at Graham Field.

“We were one hit away,” said Navarro coach Whoa Dill, who also blamed himself for the Game 2 loss after a runner he sent home was thrown out. “I thought we played OK for the first day. That’s a team we’re going to see in the regional tournament.”

The home-standing Bulldogs had a 4-2 lead with two outs in the top of the sixth in Game 2 when Blinn hit its way into the lead. David Tittle had double on an 0-2 pitch from Brandon Alvey and scored on Matt Baca’s single for a 4-3 game.

Dill went to freshman Sam Stroder, who is making the leap from Class 1A Frost to one of the best junior college baseball conferences in the nation. Stroder had a terrific fall for the Bulldogs, touching 92 with his fastball, so there’s no reason to believe he can’t handle it.

But in a key situation Tuesday he allowed a towering triple to center to Blinn’s Chase Brown to tie the game. Then to make matters worse, another Navarro freshman, Brian Vigo of Keller Fossil Ridge, tried to throw Brown out at third when the right play would have been to make no throw at all. Vigo’s throw sailed over third baseman Zach Voight’s head into the Blinn dugout, allowing the go-ahead run to score.

“It’s just a matter of a young guy trying to do too much,” Dill said of Vigo’s errant throw.

Still, it was still only a one-run game and Navarro had six outs to rally. The Bulldogs got the leadoff runner on in the sixth, but center fielder Henry Castaigne, who was 3-for-3 at the time, popped out to the catcher on a bunt attempt. Later in the inning Voight singled to put two runners on but Matt Theiss struck out to end the inning.

The Bulldogs went 1-2-3 in the seventh with two ground outs and a popup.

It spoiled a great game from the top of the order. Castaigne and second baseman Christian Stringer gave Navarro a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first with back-to-back home runs. Both left-handed swingers ripped fastballs over the right-field fence.

Castaigne doubled to start the third and scored on Voight’s RBI single to give Navarro the lead back at 3-2. The Bulldogs left the bases loaded in that inning, then did it again in the bottom of the fourth despite a single by Castaigne and double by Stringer with one out in the inning.

“Castaigne and Stringer were bright spots at the plate,” Dill said.

Navarro got erratic outings from sophomore starting pitchers Chris Marlowe and Teddy Nowell, but that’s not a surprise considering it felt like 40-something degrees outside.

Marlowe lasted 2 1/3 innings, the victim of six walks. He had a good curve ball, but couldn’t throw his fastball for strikes. Two of his walks in the third inning scored.

Nowell, who was all-conference last year, had an un-Teddy-like five walks in 3 1/3 innings and kind of shrugged when asked how he threw the ball. He allowed two runs on three hits.

Still Navarro found a way to win the opener. Garrett Autrey was 2-for-2 with a double and an RBI. Voight and Vigo each went 1-for-3 with an RBI.