Ryan outhit Keller Fossil Ridge in Game 1 of a Class 4A Region I quarterfinal series on Thursday. The difference was the majority of Fossil Ridge’s hits went over the wall.

DRC/Gary Payne

Ryan outfielder Ryan Salter tries to catch a ball hit for a home run by Keller Fossil Ridge’s Carlos Rodriguez-Roman during Game 1 of a Class 4A Region I quarterfinal series Thursday at Billy Ryan Field.

View larger  Slideshow Photo store

Three of the Panthers’ five hits went for home runs off Ryan starter Cord Jezek, while the Raiders couldn’t manage an extra-base hit among the six singles they hit, and Fossil Ridge left Billy Ryan Field with a 7-4 win and a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series.

Game 2 is at 7:30 p.m. today at Fossil Ridge. Game 3, if necessary, will be at noon Saturday at Coppell.

“They got after us a little bit early,” Ryan head coach Bret Warnack said. “The difference in the ballgame was Cord made three bad pitches. They had good hacks at them and hit them out of the ballpark. I felt like we had some good pitches to hit that we didn’t really capitalize on and that was the difference.”

Fossil Ridge third baseman Carlos Rodriguez-Ramon opened the scoring in the second inning with a two-run bomb to right field that scored shortstop Jason Heflin. The Panthers extended their lead in the third on a solo homer by Brian Vigo-Suarez, and Fossil Ridge got another solo bomb in the fifth from Jacob Bermejo.

In fact, all of the Panthers’ hits went for extra-base hits, as two of the five were doubles — one of which Heflin used to knock in a runner in the seventh.

Outside of the home runs, Jezek had a solid outing, giving up just four hits and striking out five. Warnack elected to pitch Jezek, Ryan’s No. 2 starter, because he has pitched the majority of the games at home.

In the area round of the playoffs, Fossil Ridge pitched its ace, Brendan Alvey, in Game 2 to avoid its opponents’ ace. The Panthers did so again, as Alvey made it to the mound only after it was obvious Jezek was going to start.

Warnack said the matchup had nothing to do with the decision to pitch Jezek.

“Cord’s thrown at home all year, and thrown well here,” Warnack said. “He threw three shutouts in his last appearances here. If we’d played the first game over there, I probably would have thrown Curtis [Petersen] the first game.”

Ryan got a little glimmer of hope in the bottom of the seventh after entering the inning down 7-1. Alvey, who dominated the first six innings, opened the frame by giving up a single and three walks to bring a runner home.

He was yanked in favor of Heflin, but he walked two runners home in the only two at-bats he saw, cutting Ryan’s deficit to 7-4 and putting the winning run at the plate with just one out.

Heflin was pulled in favor of Kyle Estill, Fossil Ridge’s likely Game 2 starter, who struck out Justin Smithers and forced Juan Gloria into a ground out to end the game.

“It was good for us being able to battle back there and score a few runs at the end,” Warnack said.

But outside of capitalizing on some location problems by Fossil Ridge in the seventh, Ryan didn’t get much going at the plate. The Raiders’ other run came in the fourth when Zach Voight and Bubba Roddy opened the inning with singles, and Jezek brought Roddy home with a single after Voight was caught trying to steal third.

No Raiders got more than one hit on the night.

“The kid [Alvey] did a good job pitching,” Warnack said. “He had good stuff. He was kind of effectively wild. He was out of the zone all the sudden, then all the sudden he’s right there on the black. It caught us off guard a little bit. We were a little timid at the plate. We have to be more aggressive. We’ll be ready [today].”

JEFF ANDREWS can be reached at 940-566-6873. His e-mail address is jandrews@dentonrc.com

.

Keller Fossil Ridge 7, Ryan 4

WP – Brendan Alvey (11-1). LP – Cord Jezek (6-3). 2B – FR: Brendan Alvey, Jason Heflin. HR – FR: Carlos Rodriguez-Ramon, Jacob Bermejo, Brian Vigo-Suarez. Records: Fossil Ridge (27-8), Ryan (27-7).