BASEBALL ROUNDUP | Updating all of the high school teams in the ETB area from Tuesday’s games

EDITOR’S NOTE: Tatum High School baseball was off; the other 11 teams in the ETBlitz.com coverage area are all included in this roundup.

Kilgore High School’s Diamond ‘Dogs have been scorching lately.

Leave it to Spring Hill to bring a long water hose with them to Driller Park on Tuesday night.

The Panthers, leading District 16-4A, were able to get out of Driller with a 5-1 win on Tuesday, dealing the Bulldogs just their second loss since the Jasper Tournament back in mid-March, and third in the district schedule.

Kilgore is 10-13 overall, and 7-3 in district play, still in very good shape, even with the loss. The Bulldogs will have to go to Longview to face Spring Hill (19-6 overall, 10-0 in district) on Friday – junior varsity starts at 4:30 and varsity will play after that.

The third inning was what did Kilgore in on Tuesday: the Panthers scored four runs in the top of the third, and Kilgore just couldn’t catch up. It was a clean game, for the most part: the Bulldogs had one error, Spring Hill, none.

Kilgore just had a difficult time manufacturing offense against that traditionally-strong Spring Hill pitching. Kolton Hale and Cason Edney had Kilgore’s only two hits of the night; Edney also had an RBI (scoring Kayson Brooks).

And Edney was the pitcher of record for Kilgore for the entire game: seven innings, eight hits allowed, five runs allowed but only one earned; one walk, and five strikeouts recorded.

Spring Hill’s Grant Burton and Cayson Wilkins shared the mound, although Burton got most of it. Burton threw six innings of good baseball, allowing one run, earned, on two hits, walked four and struck out eight. Wilkins only threw one inning, struck out two, and allowed no runs, hits or walks.

Henderson-Gilmer: In another big one in 16-4A, Henderson defeated Gilmer, 8-0, on Tuesday.

Henderson is 12-9 on the season, 6-3 in district, and will face the Buckeyes again on Friday; this time, it’ll be at home. That’s a 4:30 p.m. JV game start, varsity to follow.

Coach Brock Lemire’s Lions have won four straight games. They’re currently fourth in the district standings.

Gilmer is 12-8, and 5-4 in district, right behind Henderson in fifth place. The Buckeyes had won three of four before that loss to Henderson on Tuesday.

Brian Biggs came up – well, big – for the Lions in allowing just one hit to the Buckeyes on Tuesday night. Dillon Griffin had Gilmer’s only hit, and it was a single.

Biggs was on the money: 13 strikeouts and allowed just three walks in a seven-inning complete-game win.

At the plate for the Lions, Maddox Hatchel had two singles and 2 RBI, and Kayne Brantley had a double, two singles and 2 RBI.

Alden Davis went 3 2/3 innings for Gilmer, with five strikeouts.

District 16-3A

Gladewater 13, Arp 2: Coach Zac Spears and the Bears have now won four straight games and in THIS district, that’s fantastic.

The Bears trailed early: Arp (8-13-1, 2-6) scored a run in the first inning, and Gladewater tied it up in the second – the Tigers scored again in the third (2-1 Arp), before the Bears plated three runs in the bottom of the fourth to go ahead for good. They wound up finishing the game with the UIL’s run-rule by scoring nine runs in the bottom of the fifth.

Gladewater had 12 hits in the game, and Landen King and Preston Bohanon each had three of them. Bohanon had a home run and a double, and 3 RBI. He also scored twice. King went 3-for-3, all singles, with 2 RBI and scored twice.

Luke Brown had two hits, one of them a double, had 3 RBI and scored a run. Alex Villalpando also had two hits, including a double, and scored twice. Aubry Floyd had a hit and scored twice, and Madaxx Vasquez had an RBI.

Sean Burke threw all five innings for the Bears. Burke allowed two runs on four hits, walked two and struck out seven.

For Arp, Caden Cliborn threw 4 1/3 innings, giving up seven runs (four earned) on nine hits, walked four and struck out five. Also, Landon Smith pitched an inning for Arp, allowing six runs (one earned) on three hits; he walked two.

Cliborn had two of the Tigers’ hits, both singles, and an RBI; Matthew Lowe had a hit, and scored; and Mason Wallace scored a run.

These two play again Friday, at Arp, starting at 4:30 with the JV game.

Gladewater is 14-9 on the season to date, and 5-5 in 16-3A.

Troup 5, White Oak 1: Lots of winning streaks going on around here: the Troup Tigers have won four in a row, as well, getting by White Oak’s Roughnecks on Tuesday night.

They’ll try to do it again on Friday on the road at White Oak (16-5-1), who lost for just the fifth time this season.

Troup is 17-6 overall this year, and 6-2 in district play; White Oak has a 6-3 district record (there’s an odd number of teams in the district, seven, so everyone has to have a bye and everyone’s record is a little different until they’ve had that open date).

After 2 1/2 scoreless innings of baseball, the Tigers brought in two runs in the bottom of the third inning. White Oak cut that lead in half (2-1) in the top of the fourth, but then wasn’t able to score again. Three errors hurt the ‘Necks in the game.

For Troup, Carson Davenport had a home run and 2 RBI. James Pierce had two hits, one of them a double, and also had 2 RBI. Hayden Huml and Caden Graves each had a hit, as well.

For White Oak, Tyson McKinney and Will Thomas had hits, both singles.

Graves went all seven innings on the mound for the Tigers, allowing one run, earned, on the two hits – he walked two and struck out eight.

Collin Wheat threw six innings for the Roughnecks, allowing five runs, earned, on four hits, and walked six.

West Rusk 8, Sabine 2: The Raiders are trying to keep pace with the district leaders, and did so with a home win over Sabine on Tuesday.

West Rusk (9-11 overall, but 4-4 in district play) grabbed an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first, held onto it, then added to it late, with three runs in each of the fifth and sixth innings.

The teams will play again on Friday at Sabine (0-19 overall, 0-8 in district).

For the Raiders, Cole Jackson went 4-for-4, with a double and 4 RBI, and scored two runs. Kullin Tavarez also had two hits, and 2 RBI. Jaxon Johnson, just a freshman, had a hit and an RBI, and Caiden Landon had a hit, as well. Jase Reasoner, Troy Hunley and Hunter McCandless all each scored twice.

Hunley and Johnson each had a stolen base.

Reasoner went four innings on the mound, striking out four and allowing one hit, but no walks. Tavarez went three innings, allowing two runs on two hits, but no walks, and struck out six.

Lincoln Royce went 4 2/3 innings for the Cardinals, and allowed five runs, earned, on six hits, walked four and struck out two. Syler Pierce went 1 1/3 innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on two hits, walked one and had two strikeouts.

Pierce had two hits for Sabine, and Kellen Hill had the other, all singles – Hill also had an RBI.

District 19-2A

Overton 10, Union Grove 1: Another road game, another win for the Overton Mustangs, who are now 18-6 overall and 8-2 in district play with this win.

Bryce Still had a double, three singles and 4 RBI in the win for the Mustangs. Jayden Edwards had a double, a single and an RBI. Braxton Harper and Nolan Hill each had a double and an RBI. Joey Zalman had two singles for Overton, and Bryson Bobbitt had an RBI.

On the mound, Rylan Holleman went five innings and allowed one earned run and had two strikeouts. Harper also pitched, going two innings on the mound, and also had two K’s.

Leverett’s Chapel 8, Union Hill 7: Carson Ford and Ethan Williams each had 2 hits and combined for 5 RBI in a close one on Tuesday – but the Lions got the win.

Coach A.J. Hendrix, the son of West Rusk coach Ronnie Hendrix, is in his first season at the helm of the Lions (WHATABURGER / ETBLITZ PERSONALITY PROFILE | Ronnie Hendrix and A.J. Hendrix, new baseball coaches at West Rusk, Leverett’s Chapel). They’re 3-5-1 overall, and 1-1 in district play after several rain-outs this year.

Their schedule has been altered a bit. They’ll host Bloomburg on Friday at 4 p.m., then Miller Grove on Tuesday, also at 4.

In the win over Union Hill, Williams went 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI, scored three runs and had two stolen bases.

Ford went 2-for-3 with a triple, 2 RBI and scored a run, and also pitched 4 1/3 innings, allowing four earned runs on five hits, walked four and struck out five.

Also on the mound for LC on Tuesday: Davis “Bubba” Tryon, who went 2 2/3 innings, allowing one earned run and a hit, and struck out five.

Ethan Vaden went 1-for-4 with a triple, an RBI and scored a run, and Trent Wheat also went 1-for-4 with a stolen base and scored a run.