OVERTON’S BASEBALL MUSTANGS | The Goudarzi & Young / ETBlitz.com Team of the Week!

Going through the ranks to nominate potential team-of-the-week candidates didn’t take very long last weekend.

Overton High School baseball stood out from just about everyone.

Having to face District 19-2A rival Beckville twice in as many days, both teams with lengthy winning streaks and playoff seeding at stake, there were no contingency plans in place by coaches Chris Cook and Scotty Laymance for a split of the series.

There was no talk of “what happens if we lose ‘em both.”

 There was only “let’s get these two games.”

That’s what winners do. And that’s what they did.

Overton beat Beckville at home last Tuesday, 5-4, then went on the road and what looked like a nightmare scenario – down 11-3 going into the seventh and final inning – turned into a nightmare for Beckville instead, as the Mustangs came roaring back. They scored nine runs in the final inning, then held the Bearcats scoreless for a 12-11 win.

For those performances, Cook’s Overton Mustangs are the Goudarzi & Young, LLP / ETBlitz.com Team of the Week for the week of April 14-19.

Give the Bearcats credit: they certainly did not make things easy.

In the first game, in Overton last Tuesday, the teams were tied at 1 after the first inning. Beckville broke that tie in the third, and then Overton tied it again (2-2) in the fourth.

Beckville (15-5 overall, 9-3 in 19-2A) scored twice more in the fifth, a 4-2 lead.

Overton cut it in half in the bottom of the fifth, then scored two in the seventh, the tying and then the go-ahead run, for the win.

The Bearcats’ mistakes proved very costly. They had seven errors in the game. Overton did have two, but was able to overcome them.

Beckville had six hits, two of them by senior Baker Seegers, who proved to be a worthy opponent in both games. Seegers on Tuesday went 2-of-3 with two doubles, an RBI and scored twice. He also went to the mound to face four batters, and allowed no hits or walks, and had a strikeout.

But in the other dugout, for Overton, Braxton Harper showed why he’s one of the most underrated players in the ETBlitz.com coverage area. Harper went 3-for-4 with an RBI and scored a run. Rylan Hollman went 2-for-4 and scored twice. Brody Brown and Bryson Bobbitt each had a hit, and Mason Rowe had an RBI, reached on an error twice, and scored a run.

Rowe and Holleman each had two stolen bases, and Brown, one.

Harper had six put-outs defensively, and Rowe, three.

On the mound, Holleman went six innings, threw 102 pitches, and allowed four runs (one earned) on six hits, walked five, and had a strikeout. Bryce Still came on for an inning and did walk one batter, but had zeroes across the board the rest of his time on the mound: no runs, hits or walks allowed on 12 pitches thrown.

Now, the teams, like most everyone last week due to Good Friday’s holiday, played on Thursday last week, and Friday wasn’t looking too good for Overton at about 8:30 p.m. Central time.

Overton did score the first run, to lead 1-0, but then Beckville reeled off three runs in the bottom of the first, scored three more in the fourth and five in the fifth. Beckville fans were celebrating like the game was over, and it looked like it: the Mustangs were down, 11-3, with only one inning left, the top of the seventh.

Turns out, that was a pretty big inning.

Like, a monster inning.

Like, an inning you’ll remember when you look back at your high school career, kind of inning.

Through one hit after another, with one Bearcat mistake after another, Overton would score nine agonizing runs in the top of the seventh, as Beckville tried in vain to escape, but couldn’t.

By the time the Bearcats finally got the third out, the tables had completely turned: it was now OVERTON on top, 12-11, and BECKVILLE looking at what, if anything, it could do to manufacture at least a game-tying run in the bottom of the seventh, the game’s final inning unless the Bearcats could tie it.

They couldn’t. Overton got the three outs necessary without giving up the run, and the Mustangs got out with the victory.

Overton would give up 16 hits, but Beckville also committed more mistakes, as it did in the first game of the series: three errors to Overton’s one.

Seegers again led the ‘Cats at the plate, this time with two hits, one of them a double, and 3 RBI.

But he was also on the mound in part for Overton’s comeback. He pitched two innings, allowing nine runs (two earned) on three hits, walked four and struck out four, having faced 17 batters.

Reed Chapman went five innings, allowing Overton three runs (two earned) on three hits, walked five and struck out three.

Things were crazy on Overton’s end, as well. Still went four innings on the mound, allowing eight runs (seven earned) on seven hits and walked eight, with a strikeout. Landon Hill went three innings, allowing three runs, all earned, on nine hits, walked four and had four strikeouts.

Holleman went 3-for-4, as well, all three of them doubles, scored twice and had 3 RBI.

Landon Hill went 2-of-4 with an RBI and a double, and scored twice. And Harper, Joey Zalman, Brown, Bobbitt and Still each had a hit, Harper’s a double. Rowe, Harper, Zalman, Bobbitt and Jayden Edwards each had an RBI.

And Brown, Still, Rowe and Hill each had a stolen base for the Mustangs.

Cook’s team is now 21-6 overall, 9-2 in district play and has two regular season games left before the UIL Class 2A playoffs will start, both against Elysian Fields. The Mustangs visit EF tonight (Tuesday), a 4 p.m. junior varsity start with varsity afterward, then host the Yellowjackets on Friday in that same format. The playoffs will begin next week.

Right now, Harleton, at 10-1, has the best record in the district. Overton is second, then Beckville, and then Ore City (7-5). Elysian Fields is a half-game back (6-5). The top four teams make the 2A playoffs.

The staff here at ETBlitz.com is so proud of our advertising partners, and we could not be more proud that Goudarzi & Young is our sponsor for the team of the week award each week, and will be for at least the remainder of 2025.

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Congratulations again to the Overton Mustangs, the Goudarzi & Young / ETBlitz Team of the Week for April 14-19!