By Devin Hasson

McKINNEY--The Texas Boom appeared on its way to a comfortable win on Friday, but things got tense late.
The Dallas Patriots scored five runs in the bottom of the fifth inning and got the go-ahead run to the plate before John Guzman was able to strike out the final batter with the bases loaded to preserve an 8-5 victory in the pool play opener of the 2009 Elite Travel Classic Texas Regional at Craig’s Ranch in McKinney.
Both teams will resume pool play action on Saturday against one of the favorites, the Banditos-Black. The Boom will get their shot at the Banditos at 9 a.m., while the Patriots will play at 1 p.m.

“We’re happy to get the win, but we’ll see what happens tomorrow because I know the Banditos are one of the teams to beat,” Texas Boom coach Brandon Chancellor said. “We’ll have a good chance to see how we match up tomorrow.”
The Boom was in cruise control through four innings, thanks largely to starter Bo Dallas, who allowed just three hits and no runs during his time on the mound.
“He got out there and threw strikes, which is what we need him to do,” Chancellor said. “This was the first time we let him use a change-up that he has been working on and he threw them for strikes and let the defense make plays behind him.”

The offense gave him plenty of support. After taking a 1-0 lead in the first inning, the Boom broke it open in the top of the second.
With two outs and Davis Green on third base, Parker Campbell reached on an error, allowing a run to score and the floodgates to open. Max Mitchell walked and Cale Hundley was hit by a pitch.
Micah Dallas followed with a two-run double to left-center field and John Guzman added a RBI single to make it 6-0.

The Boom padded that lead in the third, as Bo Dallas singled and came around to score on a wild pitch. Nathan Artt also reached on an error and scored on a ground out by Colton Ruby to stretch the advantage to 8-0.

Dylan Archer came on in relief during the third inning for the Patriots and kept his team in the game, going three innings and allowing just a single hit.
After managing next to nothing for four innings, the Patriots finally got going in the bottom of the fifth against the Boom bullpen.
With one out, Archer had a base hit and Dalton Burt and Jon Urso drew back-to-back walks to load the bases. Klayton Henderson followed with a two-run double to left field and one batter later, Jaxx Groshans drove home two more runs with a base hit to make it 8-4.

Caanan Smith’s RBI single drew the Patriots to within 8-5, and while the Boom thought it was over on a strikeout, the ball got away from the catcher, allowing the batter to reach and the inning to continue. Conner Dominguez then walked to load the bases and bring the winning run to the plate, but Guzman was able to record the out when he needed to secure the win.

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