PLAYOFFS CONTINUE | Tatum & White Oak join the party tonight, as the other series resume; Overton advances in a one-gamer
EDITOR’S NOTE: Much of this was in our Wake Up! on ETBlitz article early, early Friday morning, brought to you by Cozy Coffee Station. This update includes Henderson’s 3-1 loss to Mabank Thursday night. Included here is an update on every series involving high school baseball teams at schools in the ETBlitz.com coverage area. We’ll be back Friday night to update as many as possible, hopefully all of ’em. The Cozy Coffee Station has locations in Kilgore, at 110 Midtown Plaza, and in Gilmer, at 755 Highway 271 North. Check ’em out online at Home | Cozy Coffee Station, and check out the fantastic menu, and even order ahead! Here’s a tip: KEY LIME MILKSHAKE. Had it today at the Gilmer location, and… WOW.
Overton High School’s baseball Mustangs lost a coin flip prior to their playoff Thursday night at Brook Hill.
The flip: Overton wanted to play a series, and LaPoynor, only one game. LaPoynor won that flip.
And then they lost the game. And they’re out of the playoffs.
Other scores from playoff series around the ETBlitz.com area on Thursday night: Kilgore lost to Lindale, 4-0; Mabank defeated Henderson, 3-1; Troup lost to Grand Saline, 8-5 in game one, and 9-6 in game two; West Rusk beat Edgewood, 4-3, to open that series; and Leverett’s Chapel lost to Avalon in a playoff best-of-three doubleheader, losing game one, 7-3, and game two, 19-2.
We’re still efforting to get information on the Henderson first-round series. When we have that, we’ll update.
More on all of those series, including what’s up with Tatum, White Oak and Henderson, below.
Overton
Overton 4, LaPoynor 2: Overton’s Mustangs dealt LaPoynor a 4-2 defeat on Thursday night in the first round, or bi-district round, of the University Interscholastic League’s Class 2A, Division II playoffs.
Overton (23-6), winners of 10 straight games, will face either Bowie (19-6) or Big Sandy (10-10) in round two, or the area round. But that series is a best-of-three series, being played at Northeast Community College, is Friday night at 7 p.m. Bowie beat Big Sandy, 15-6, in game one.
Against LaPoynor Thursday night, Overton scored two runs in the second, then the Flyers tied it up with a run in each of the next two innings (2-all). But LaPoynor wouldn’t get another run – Overton would score twice in the fifth and then held on for the win.
The Flyers committed two errors; Overton, none.
Each team had just three hits in the game. For Overton, Brody Brown had a hit (a double) and 2 RBI. Bryson Bobbitt had a single, as did Landon Hill, and each of them scored a run; Braxton Harper and Jayden Edwards also each scored a run.
Rylan Holleman had three stolen bases and Hill had one.
Bryce Still threw six innings of baseball, allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits; he walked six and struck out eight. Hill struck out one, and didn’t allow a hit, a run or a walk in one inning.
Kaden McKinney took the loss for LaPoynor, going six innings, with four runs (three earned) allowed on three hits; he walked five and struck out seven.
Kilgore
Kilgore, which has improved all season but hasn’t had two of its best pitchers, struggled a bit finding offense at home Thursday in a game one 4-0 loss to Lindale in this best-of-three-game series in the UIL Class 4A, Division I playoffs.
The Diamond ‘Dogs (12-18) had three hits: Tanner Beets, Miles Applegate and Brayden Williams all each had a hit, all singles.
Beets went six innings on the mound allowing two runs, but only one earned, on six hits; he walked three and struck out two. Rafello Adamez pitched a third of an inning and allowed two runs, both earned, on two hits.
Jackson Legrow threw six innings for Lindale, allowing three hits and four walks, but no runs, and struck out four. Dax Derfelt pitched an inning for Lindale, as well, and allowed no walks, no hits, and no runs, and struck out two.
Lindale finished with eight hits; Hayden Gateley had a double.
Game two will be Saturday in Lindale at 1 p.m., and if Kilgore can force a third game, it’ll be right after game two.
Henderson
The Lions had Mabank in Lion Country, but Mabank escaped.
The Panthers went on the road and got out of Henderson with a 3-1 win in game one of a best-of-three in the 4A-Division I bi-district playoffs.
For the Lions (16-12), Kayne Brantley had a single and an RBI, and Sebastian Vega also had a single. On the mound, Henderson had Brian Biggs for 5 2/3 innings, and Biggs had eight strikeouts. Macen Jones came on for 1 1/3 innings and had three strikeouts. Henderson pitchers walked four.
The series moves to Mabank for game two, and if Henderson can force it, game three. That’ll be Saturday at 4 p.m., and the third game will also obviously be at Mabank, right after game two.
Tatum, White Oak
Neither of these teams – both in the UIL Class 3A, Division I playoffs – took the field on Thursday night.
Tatum (19-8) will face Mineola (10-12) in a best-of-three series to be played at Brook Hill. Game one will be at 6 p.m. tonight., now, after a change, a move-up due to the weather forecast.
Game two will be back at Brook Hill Saturday at noon, and if game three is needed, it’ll follow game two.
White Oak (17-8) will face Malakoff (14-10) in the first round, and that series is to be played at Mike Carter Field in Tyler. Game one will be tonight at 7 p.m. Game two will be Saturday, also at Carter Field, at 2 p.m., and if a third game is necessary, it’ll follow game two.
Troup
Unfortunately, Troup’s Tigers had a rough night on Thursday night, losing two 3A-Division I playoff games to Grand Saline, which ended their season.
Troup dropped game one, 8-5, on Thursday night at Athens; the Tigers also lost game two, 9-6.
In game one, Troup went up 3-1 in the first inning, but Grand Saline scored four in the fourth, then scattered three more runs for the win. Grand Saline had six hits and four errors; Overton had seven hits, and also had four errors.
For Troup, Logan Lockey, Kash Hardy, Caden Switzer, James Pierce and Joshua Childress each had a hit, all singles. Switzer had 2 RBI; Pierce and Lockey each had one.
Caden Graves and Hardy had pitching duties for Troup. Graves threw 3 2/3 innings, allowing five runs on two hits, walked five and struck out one. Hardy gave up four runs on four hits, and walked five.
In the second game, offense, offense, offense for both teams, as they finished the second inning with Troup down two runs (5-3). Troup finished with 10 hits, and Grand Saline two.
For Troup, Pierce had two hits, as did Carter Graves; Logan Lockey went 3-for-4 with two doubles, and also had 3 RBI.
Conner Smith and Hardy each had a stolen base for Troup. Carson Davenport threw four innings, allowing no hits, but walked seven, and struck out eight. Caden Switzer pitched an inning 1/3, and allowed one hit, and one walk. And Lockey threw two innings, allowing three runs on one hit, walked three and struck out four.
West Rusk
After the game was tied at 2-all in the second, the Raiders stepped up, scoring two in the sixth. Edgewood got close: a run in the seventh inning left them one run behind, but West Rusk held on.
Game two of the series is tonight at 6 p.m., back at Bullard, and if the Raiders win that one, the series is over.
In Thursday’s game one win, the Raiders got a hit from Kam Brown, Cole Jackson, Kullin Tavarez, and Troy Hunley; Tavarez had a double. Hunley had 2 RBI.
On the mound, Jackson went 6 2/3 innings, allowing three runs, none of them earned, on three hits; he walked three and struck out eight. Jase Reasoner followed with an inning, allowing just one hit and nothing else.
Leverett’s Chapel: The Lions scored three runs in the second inning, and were looking good — until Avalon scored six runs in the final to win it.
In the first game, a 7-3 loss, Davis Tryon, Trent Wheat, Ethan Kirk, and Carson Ford all had hits (Tryon had a double); Wheat and Keaton Geter each had an RBI.
In the second game, Avalon came out swinging – and hitting, scoring 11 runs in the first inning.
Tryon, Williams, Kirk and Carson Ford each had a hit for LC; Ford had a double.
LC ends its season, A.J. Hendrix’s first as head coach, with a 5-8-1 overall record.