Bulldogs win first game of season

Westside Eagle Observer/MIKE ECKELS Bulldogs' Austin Hamilton crosses home plate just as the Engineer catcher makes a tag during the Decatur-Watts (Okla.) baseball contest at Edmiston Park in Decatur March 8. The home plate umpire ruled Hamilton safe, giving the Bulldogs another run.
Westside Eagle Observer/MIKE ECKELS Bulldogs' Austin Hamilton crosses home plate just as the Engineer catcher makes a tag during the Decatur-Watts (Okla.) baseball contest at Edmiston Park in Decatur March 8. The home plate umpire ruled Hamilton safe, giving the Bulldogs another run.

DECATUR -- It was the opening day of the 2019 baseball season for the Decatur Bulldogs at Edmiston Ball Park in Decatur March 8 as the team hosted the Watts, Okla., Engineers. By the time the dust settled around the diamond, the Bulldogs had claimed their first victory by 10 runs.

Sophomore Kevin Garcia was on the mound for the Bulldogs to begin his second season on the Decatur pitching staff.

The Engineers were able to get two base hits in the top of the first inning. But good fielding by Adam Garcia prevented the Engineers from bringing those runners across home plate.

The Bulldogs, on the other hand, had no trouble scoring runs when they came up to bat in the bottom of the first. A series of errors allowed Decatur to score nine runs before Watts finally got the third out, giving the Bulldogs a 9-0 lead going into the second inning.

The Bulldogs scored one run in the bottom of the second to extend their lead by 10.

Watts managed to bring in two runs in the third inning and one in the fourth, but Decatur picked up three runs in the fifth to lead the Engineers by 10 once again.

Since this was a nonconference contest, the ten-run rule was invoked, giving the Decatur Bulldogs their first win of the season, 13-3, over the Engineers.

Sports on 03/13/2019