CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Sinton Pirates are headed back to state for the third consecutive season, but their region final series wasn't without its controversy Friday night.
Both Sinton and Boerne combined for five ejections in Game 2, including Sinton's star players Blake Mitchell and Jaquae Stewart.
Stewart was ejected in the fourth inning following a 50/50 call that went against the Pirates. The second base umpire ruled that the Boerne shortstop caught Stewart's liner and doubled Mitchell off third base. Stewart was then ejected heading back into the field for the next half inning.
Mitchell was tossed in the seventh inning after being intentionally walked and tossing his bat. That set off the Sinton assistant coaches, two of which were also ejected.
Boerne would go on to win in nine innings to force a Game 3 winner take-all.
The Pirates had an "unsung hero" Game 3 with both Mitchell and Stewart sidelined from the action. Aidan Moody pitched 6.2 shutout innings and was pulled due to reaching his pitch count limit. Sinton scored four first inning runs on RBI hits from Kaden McCoy and Moody, plus a two-run error on a ball put into play by sophomore Nate Mutchler.
The Pirates are on to the state semifinals Wednesday at UT's Disch-Falk Field at either 1 PM or 4 PM.