4A BASEBALL PLAYOFF UPDATE | Kilgore, Carthage moving on to area (round 2); PT slips at Lindale
{PRESENTED BY KILGORE / GILMER EYE CARE CENTERS}
When the University Interscholastic League’s high school baseball playoffs began this past week, nine of the 15 teams from the ETBlitz.com coverage area were in the field.
The first round just ended – and the majority of our teams are still playing!
Here is the roundup for the baseball programs from our coverage area that were in the UIL’s Class 4A playoffs: Kilgore (4A, Division I), Pine Tree (4A, Division 1), and Carthage, as well as details for the second round series that involve Kilgore and Carthage – Pine Tree was eliminated by Lindale in round one.
Kilgore
Things were looking grim – dang grim – after Mabank put a 6-0 roasting on Kilgore in game one of their Class 4A, Division 1 best-of-three-game series.
But Kilgore bounced right back, roasting the Panthers like hot dogs in game two, 10-2, and then finishing the series Saturday in Grand Saline with a 6-4 win.
Kilgore (18-13) will meet Pleasant Grove in the second, or area, round.
Details of that series are still being set, but it looks to be scheduled for East Texas Baptist University in Marshall. Game one will be Thursday night at 7:30 p.m.; game two is Friday, also at 7:30; and game three will be Saturday at noon.
As always, bad weather could change things, and see ETBlitz.com in a day or so for ticket information.
Pleasant Grove, by the way, smashed Nevada Community, 14-0, on Saturday. The Hawks are 29-4 on the season to date.
After that rough outing in game one, Kilgore needed a bounce-back on Saturday – and boy did they get it.
Kayson Brooks had the hot bat: 3-of-3 with two doubles and a single.
Kilgore scored twice in the first inning, three times in the second, and four more in the third – the Bulldogs made the statement early that this series was going to that third and deciding game three.
In all, Kilgore managed 13 hits. Joining Brooks were Miles Applegate and Brayden Williams, who each went 2-of-3; Brodey Benson, who went 2-of-4; Cason Edney, Jaxon Dickey and Kolton Hale, who each went 1-of-3; and Colt Barnhart, 1-of-4. Applegate had 3 RBI; Brooks and Hale each had two; and Benson had one, as well.
One of Benson’s hits was a double – Dickey and Applegate also each had a double.
On the mound, Hale was on the mark, as usual: seven strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings pitched. He allowed two runs, but only one earned, on six hits, and walked five. Rafello Adamez threw 1 2/3 innings, allowing no hits, runs or walks, and struck out two.
Mabank starter Jaxon Whitaker was roughed up by the Diamond ‘Dogs for nine runs on nine hits, four of those runs earned. He walked two and struck out one.
Game three was, well, a bit more challenging – the Bulldogs went down 3-0 early and had to make a comeback – but Kilgore put the stamp on the series and closed it out with a 6-4 win.
After that three-run outburst in the first inning, the Panthers kind of went out with a whimper, scoring only once more in the fifth.
That tied the game at four, but the Kilgore brought in two runs in the seventh, and held on for the win.
One of those runs in the seventh inning: a huge home run by Cason Edney.
Kason Henry and Benson each had a double in the game to go with the long ball by Edney – Kilgore finished with 12 hits, just killed the ball on Saturday for 25 total hits in two games.
Edney had two hits (the homer and a single) and 2 RBI. Williams also had two hits. Henry had the double and an RBI. Applegate and Kaeson Clayton each had a hit, and an RBI. Hale, Adamez, Dickey and Brooks each had a hit, as did Benson, whose hit was a double.
Pitching was a collaborative effort in the game for the Bulldogs. Benson went 2/3 of an inning, Applegate, 1/3; Edney went 1 2/3 innings and Adamez, who ultimately got the win on the mound, went 4 1/3 innings, having given up one run (earned) on three hits – he walked three and struck out two.
Benson allowed four runs, one hit, walked four and struck out two. Edney allowed one hit and had a strikeout, and Applegate didn’t allow a hit, a run or a walk.
Carthage
It felt a little like the old days this week: Carthage baseball advancing into the second round of the 4A, Division 2 playoffs without a heck of a struggle from their opponent.
In this case, that’d be Van, who probably felt a little overwhelmed. Justifiably so, though: I mean, they lost twice by a combined score of 13-5.
Carthage won game one on Thursday, 9-4, then finished things off on Saturday with a 4-1 win.
That means the ‘Dawgs will face Sunnyvale in round two, and the series is scheduled for Lindale Eagle Baseball Park. Game one will be Thursday at 7 p.m., and Carthage is the home team for that one. Game two is Friday, another 7 p.m. start, with Sunnyvale taking the home dugout. And if they need game three, it’ll be back in Lindale at 3 p.m. Saturday, with home-visitor determined by a coin flip.
Tickets are online only and will be $6 for adults and $4 for students – passes will be accepted.
Carthage (17-14) took the mystery out of game one early, plating six runs in the first inning and adding another in their next at-bat.
Van (20-17-1) actually had one more hit than Carthage in the game (Bulldogs had seven, Vandals eight), but Van also had some issues: four errors.
For Carthage, Kisler Payne had a big day: 3-of-4 with 2 RBI. Brooks Soape went 2-of-3 with an RBI. Conrad Shahan and Cade Ross each had a hit – Ross’s was a triple. Of note for the ‘Dawgs: Roston Reid had two stolen bases.
Alex Welk and Andrew Gwinn were on the mound for CHS – Wek allowed five walks and five hits, but no runs, and struck out nine in 5 1/3 innings. Gwinn threw 1 2/3 innings, and gave up four runs, three hits, a walk and struck out three.
Pine Tree
The Pirates took their best-of-three series against Lindale to three games, bouncing back from a game one loss to get a 2-1 victory in extra innings on Friday night.
PT couldn’t get out of Lindale, though: the series shifted back to the Eagles’ home field for the third and deciding game, and Lindale took it, 3-2.
Strangely enough, all five runs in the game were scored in the first two innings. Pine Tree grabbed a couple of runs in the first inning and led 2-1, and then Lindale bounced right back with a two-run second inning. Lindale was in front, 3-2 – and neither team would score again.
The Pirates had four hits in the game: one each from Bosston Johnson, Chris Nickoles, Parker Johnson and Braeton Edmonds. Nickoles also had an RBI, as did catcher D Montgomery. All four hits were singles.
Johnson took the loss on the mound: 1 1/3 innings pitched, three runs scored (all allowed) on four hits, three walks, and he recorded two strikeouts. Jackson Knight also pitched for the Pirates, allowing two hits and two walks in 5 2/3 innings, with no runs given up.
Karter Fleming, Peyton Sherwood and Cohen Lindsey all pitched for the Eagles: Fleming went 1 1/3 innings, giving up both of Pine Tree’s runs, but only allowing three hits. He did surrender five walks, however, and struck out four. Sherwood went 4 2/3 innings and gave up just one hit – he had a strikeout. Lindsey went one inning, and kept the Pirates hitless in that inning and scoreless. He also had a strikeout.
The Eagles (25-7-1), who will move on to face Sulphur Springs in the second round, managed six hits: two from Conner Deen, then one each by Hudson Harry, Kaden Adams, Jackson Legrow and Daxton Derfelt. Sulphur Springs, by the way, swept Caddo Mills.
Pine Tree wraps the season with an 11-11-3 record.
