BY KEVIN DUKE

SPECIAL TO THE HERALD DEMOCRAT

The Sherman Bearcats came from behind twice on Friday night. But coming back a third time was just a little too much to ask.

The Bearcats lost to Frisco Centennial, 13-9, after rallying to tie the Titans on two separate occasions in District 9-4A play at Veterans Field.

"We just didn't play well," Sherman head coach Gary Cosper said. "Whether it was our pitching or their hitting, I'm not sure, but we just got outplayed."

After Sherman (12-5-1, 1-2) had fallen behind, 13-8, in the sixth inning, two crucial plays in the bottom of the inning prevented a Bearcat rally.

Tyler Liss walked to start the inning and Madison Carter stepped to the plate and ripped what should have been a single to center field.

But the ball got past the Titan outfield and rolled all the way to the wall. Liss scored easily with Carter hot on his heels trying to stretch the hit into an inside-the-park home run, but the throw arrived at the same time as he did, and Carter was called out on a very close play at the plate.

Garrett Powell drew another walk and Cosper inserted Cole Campbell to run. When Geoff Hooker hit a shot past the third baseman down the left field line, Campbell tried to get to third but he too was gunned down by a good throw and the rally had produced only one run, leaving the Bearcats trailing by four.

A leadoff single by Liss in the seventh could not get the Bearcats started on another rally.

"We just weren't well prepared," Cosper said. "The players, the coaches, none of us were prepared to win the ballgame. We haven't given up those kind of runs all year. Hopefully, when we play on Tuesday we'll look a little better than we did tonight."

Sherman had rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the bottom half of the first when Hooker hit a two-out line drive over the center fielder's head to score Liss and Powell and tied the game at 2-2.

The Bearcats then took the lead on Carter's grand slam home run in their half of the second to go up 6-2. John Welborn and Liss drew back-to-back walks to load the bases before Carter took a fastball deep over the left-field wall to give Sherman the lead.

But Centennial scored twice in the third and got a grand slam of its own in the top of the fourth as the Bearcats found themselves down by two once again, 8-6.

The Bearcats showed resiliency again in the bottom half of the inning, as J.J. Floyd led off with a double and was brought around by Liss' single to reduce the deficit to one. Sherman drew two more walks to load the bases and Hooker got his third RBI of the night with a sacrifice fly to center, driving in Liss to tie the score 8-8.