CLEBURNE – Hunter Vincent and his Prosper teammates found the key for an extraordinary performance when they needed it the most Friday. Treat it like it was ordinary.
Vincent and Braden Schleifer-Bell combined for a no-hitter, while Pearson Fouts led a revival of the Prosper bats in a 9-0 rout of Waco Midway in Game 2 of a Class 6A Division I state semifinal series at La Moderna Field.
Facing elimination after dropping a 5-0 decision in Game 1 on Thursday, Vincent led the rebound with sharp movement in his curveball to complement a 94 mph fastball, recording 10 strikeouts in six innings. Schleifer-Bell pitched a hitless seventh inning to complete the no-hitter.
Vincent (9-2) had four walks, three in the third inning to load the bases, but he got a strikeout to get out of the jam. Vincent’s toughest test may have been the first batter he faced, T.J. Woodson, who had a 3-0 count against him. The senior lefty regrouped and it led to a groundout.
“No-hitters are always special. It’s really just dialing into a zone. If you throw it down the middle in the box and throw strikes, you’ll get outs,” Vincent said. “When I was down 3-0 on the first batter, I just told myself to breathe, then dial into the zone. I just acted like I was throwing in the bullpen.”
Prosper (33-10-1) is one win away from its first appearance in the state championship game since 2015, while Midway (31-8) suffered its largest margin of defeat of this season. Prosper improved to 4-0 in elimination games this postseason. The deciding game is scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday at La Moderna Field.
Prosper’s bats rebounded after managing just four singles Thursday. Prosper again had nothing but singles Friday, but this time they more than doubled: nine.
Prosper sured its hit total from Thursday with five singles in the second inning, leading to five runs. Texas A&M commitment Luke Billings, Pearson Fouts and Parker Moore had similar RBI singles to left and Carter Norton concluded the run with a run-scoring single to center.
Fouts added a two-run single to left in the third. Fouts and Norton had two hits apiece.
“The energy was down, and we weren’t seeing the ball very well as a team yesterday,” Fouts said. “I think we were more relaxed. We let our game loose and had more fun.”
Prosper took advantage of drawing five walks off Midway starting pitcher Colt Holmes in the first two innings, leading to three runs. Holmes took the loss, allowing six earned runs and five hits while striking out two in 1 1/3 innings.
Vincent said the key to Saturday will be treating it as normal as possible, even though its another elimination game, not to mention the most important to the program in about 10 years.
“It’s just another day,” Vincent said. “Our backs are still against the wall, but all we need to do is what we have been doing all year.”
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