PRESTONWOOD GETS BY KHS | ‘Dogs lose Thursday’s late game of the Whataburger OBC; tourney continues Friday, Saturday – schedule inside
Kilgore High School’s first game in their own Whataburger Oil Belt Classic on Thursday afternoon at Driller Park finished great for the home team and their fans, a 6-4 win over a Central Heights program that’s been one of the best in East Texas for several seasons.
The second game of the day, though, didn’t turn out so well Thursday night for the Bulldogs, a 6-0 loss to Prestonwood Christian.
In other scores from day one, Harmony and Redwater faced off in the first game of the tournament, with Harmony taking a 6-3 win; Heights beat Pittsburg, 8-2; Mineola defeated Harmony, 5-4; Kilgore topped Heights, as mentioned, 6-4; Collinsville beat Mineola, 8-4; and then it was Prestonwood over the Bulldogs in the final game of the day.
The tournament – the 60th annual Oil Belt Classic, sponsored for years now by Whataburger – continues on both Friday and Saturday.
Friday’s schedule had Prestonwood again on the field, this time against Central Heights at 9 a.m. Mineola meets Redwater at 11 a.m.; Pittsburg faces Prestonwood at 1 p.m.; Collinsville plays a doubleheader, facing Harmony at 3 and then Redwater at 5; and then Kilgore is back for the final game of the day, taking on Pittsburg at 7 p.m.
On Saturday, Prestonwood and Harmony get things started at 9; Collinsville faces Heights at 11; Mineola meets Pittsburg at 1; and Kilgore finishes the tournament with a game against Redwater at 3:45.
In case you’d like to know more about any of these teams, here’s a link to our preview of the tournament, which was placed on ETBlitz.com on Wednesday afternoon: THE WHATABURGER OIL BELT CLASSIC | It’s Thursday, Friday & Saturday at Kilgore’s Driller Park — here’s a complete preview.
And here’s another link, this one to Kilgore’s win over Heights on Thursday: KILGORE TAKES ONE | Kilgore knocks off Central Heights in Whataburger OBC; back in action at 7 tonight against Prestonwood.
In the loss to Prestonwood on Thursday night, Kilgore just couldn’t muster any offense, like any: in fact, Lions pitcher Landon Murphy was darn close to perfect. He allowed no hits to the Bulldogs in five innings (games in the tournament have an hour-and-45-minute time limit) and only walked one. He had six strikeouts.
Three pitchers went to the mound for the ‘Dogs: Braylon Reyes, Kaeson Clayton and Rafello Adamez. Clayton, who closed the win against Heights with back-to-back-to-back strikeouts, allowed four runs – two of them earned, but two of them unearned – on four hits, walked two and struck out two. Adamez went 1 2/3 innings, giving up three runs, one earned, with a strikeout, and Reyes threw 1 1/3 innings, allowing one earned run on one hit, and walked three. Reyes got the start.
The Lions scored a run in the second inning, and didn’t score again until adding two more in the fourth. In the second, C.J. Lebouef hit a double to right field, and eventually scored on a passed ball.
In the top of the fourth, Braylon White hit a single to left, went to second on a passed ball, and scored on a single by Lash Henderson (2-0 Prestonwood). Then Henderson scored on a hit by Jake Felsman (3-0).
Lebouef hit another double in the top of the fifth, moving teammate Aiden Moffitt, who had a lead-off single, to third. Moffitt scored on a grounder by Junior Kniffen (4-0), and Carter Rosenwald, a courtesy runner for LeBouef, scored on an error on a bunt laid down by White (5-0).
The Lions would add one more run before Kilgore could get out of the inning: a double by Henderson scored White (6-0).