KILGORE-BULLARD PREVIEW | A look at the series that begins Wednesday night
In a handful of baseball playoff series that begin around East Texas this week, as the University Interscholastic League sets out on its journey to crown state champions, a few are more interesting than the rest.
One of those is a best-of-three-game series between the Kilgore Bulldogs and the Bullard Panthers.
The series is already starting a day early: it starts Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Bullard’s new baseball stadium at the new athletic complex behind Bullard Elementary School.
The Panthers get to host game one. Game two is Friday night at Kilgore’s Driller Park, a 6 p.m. first pitch, and if a game three is needed, it will begin 30 minutes after game two.
ETBlitz.com will be on hand for coverage of the game, our real-time updates, live, during the contest.
The series was moved back a day for a Wednesday night start because rainy, or inclement, weather is expected Thursday that could force postponement, and obviously, officials from both schools wanted to get the first game in. Friday night’s forecast for Kilgore at this writing is less than 20 percent.
Kilgore is coming into the UIL Class 4A playoffs battle-tested from a very difficult District 17-4A schedule. The Bulldogs are 16-11-1 on the season, and finished district play 8-7 – battles with Spring Hill, Carthage and Henderson took their toll. Kilgore finished as the No. 3 seed – Spring Hill went in as No. 1, Carthage as 2, and Henderson as four.
Kilgore, then, gets Bullard, the No. 2 seed in District 18-4A. Henderson, as the fourth seed, gets 18-4A champion Lufkin Hudson – that series starts Wednesday night at 6 p.m. in Henderson, then moves to Hudson on Friday for game two at 5 p.m., and game three right after game two, if it’s needed.
Spring Hill, as the 17-4A champ, gets Madisonville, the last-place seed in 18-4A, and Carthage faces Palestine.
About those Bullard Panthers…
They’re coached by Robert Ellis, who is in his third year at Bullard, and has 202 career wins, including a 25-5-2 record this season. By the way, the Panthers went 26-10 a year ago, making it to the regional quarterfinals – and knocked out Kilgore in the first round along the way.
Some names from Bullard that Kilgore fans might remember, or might want to know, as the series begins:
- Senior outfielder Ben Coke, first-team all-district. Batted .343 with 36 hits, and an on-base percentage of .410.
- Senior utility player Jachin Salas, a .300 batter who was second-team all-district, and a Centenary signee.
- Senior Chase Randall, a utility player and also second-team all-district, a signee at San Jacinto.
- Senior David Wilson, a pitcher, a left-hander, and utility player who was third-team all-state on his way to Oklahoma.
- Senior Noah Lock, a right-handed pitcher with a 3-1 record, and three saves. Lock is was honorable mention all-district, and a Centenary signee.
- Senior catcher Reed Overbeek, with a .245 batting average.
- Junior Dylan Fowler, a pitcher and utility player with a 2-3 record, a save, and a batting average of .268, a first-team all-district selection.
- Junior Tyler Lamberth, a left-hander with three saves this season.
- Junior Krew Korenek, also a left-hander, a 3-1 record, honorable mention all-district.
- Sophomore Kage Korenek, a left-hander with a 1-1 record who was honorable mention all-district.
Now, the Panthers are technically on a two-game losing streak. They dropped the final regular season game to eventual district champ Lufkin Hudson, 2-1, and then the final regular season game to Canton, 4-1.
Bullard’s assistant coaches are Adam Ray and Caleb Gibson.
The first thing Kilgore fans will likely notice is Bullard’s new stadium look: a turf stadium that was opened earlier this year.
It was part of a $103 million bond voters approved in May, 2022 that included not just the baseball stadium, but new tennis courts, a new softball stadium, and a major portion of the bond ($82 million) that included new middle schools.Top of Form
It’s a showplace, to be sure.
Kilgore’s Diamond ‘Dogs know a little something about baseball palaces – they play in Driller Park. They won’t be in awe of the showplace.
But they will need to play their best series to beat the Panthers.
Kilgore has the coaches for it.
They’re led by Eugene Lafitte, who returned for his second stint as Kilgore head coach and hit the 400 career win milestone a few weeks back. He’s joined in the dugout by longtime assistant Joey Pippen, as well as Braden Robey and Jackson Nichols.
Kilgore has five seniors, in alphabetical order: Aiden Domorad, Cade Henry, Todd House, Jordan Pierce, and Tate Truman.
The Bulldogs don’t come into the playoffs on a roll, because, as mentioned, they’ve played one of the state’s most difficult schedules. They did split with Henderson in a series back on April 11-12, getting the better of the Lions in Henderson, 14-7, on April 12.
But they had a pair of one-run extra-inning losses to Carthage on April 16 (6-5, in Carthage), and on April 19 (3-2, at Driller) that were grueling, to say the least. Then, back-to-back shutouts to eventual district champion Spring Hill finished the season for the Bulldogs.
No one has their heads down, though, as Kilgore begins the postseason. They’ve been here before.
Back in 2022, Kilgore had to face defending state champion Pleasant Grove in a best-of-three series.
Pleasant Grove went bye-bye, out of the postseason in three games.
Then it was one of the state’s best teams, Kaufman, a program that had given Kilgore a tough time in the past.
Kaufman went out, in three games, before Kilgore themselves lost to district rival Spring Hill that year.
Lafitte and crew have guided Kilgore to the promised land before: within a round of the state tournament in 2018, and then actually to the state tournament, for the first time since the early 1970s, in 2019.
They’ll need some folks to raise their game.
It’ll start with pitching. Kilgore’s team ERA (earned-run average – the number of runs the team gives up per game) right now is 3.029. Not bad, not for a high school staff, but they need to get it down.
Of pitchers that have thrown at least 14 innings:
Kolton Hale is just one of a super sophomore class. Hale’s personal ERA is 2.8. He’s allowed 12 stolen bases this year. He’s got a 5-2 record, and in 37 innings pitched, in 165 batters faced, he’s got 44 strikeouts. He’s allowed 25 runs, 15 of them earned, on 20 hits. And Hale has thrown 684 pitches.
Brodey Benson has pitched the second-most innings of any Kilgore hurler this season (25 2/3). Brodey has seven starts and is 2-3 on the year. He’s started seven games and faced 127 batters, thrown 514 pitches. He’s allowed 19 runs, 13 earned, on 29 hits, walked 21, and has 27 strikeouts. His ERA is 3.54.
Tanner Beets is 3-1 on the season, and has thrown 21 innings for the Diamond ‘Dogs. He’s faced 104 batters, thrown 329 pitches, and has allowed 16 runs, seven of them earned, on 25 hits. He’s walked only eight batters, and struck out 15. He’s got a 2.33 ERA.
Colt Bullard has thrown 20 1/3 innings, faced 102 batters and thrown 367 pitches. He has a 1-2 record. He’s allowed 17 runs, seven of them earned, on 28 hits, walked 10 , and struck out 12. His ERA is 2.41.
House has pitched 20 innings this season, has thrown 320 pitches and faced 96 batters. He’s got a 2-0 record. On the season, he’s allowed eight runs, seven earned, on 23 hits, 13 walks and struck out 16, and his ERA is 2.45.
Cason Edney has thrown 18 1/3 innings, faced 93 batters and thrown 265 pitches, with a 1-0 record. He’s allowed 16 runs, nine of them earned, on 23 hits, six walks and has 12 strikeouts, with an ERA of 3.43.
And Truman has thrown 263 pitches in 14 2/3 innings, faced 74 batters, and has a 2-2 record. He’s allowed 14 runs, seven of them earned, on 11 hits. He’s walked 19, struck out seven, and has an ERA of 3.34.
Kilgore’s line-up can be killer when it’s on, from the top to the bottom.
House is normally the lead-off batter. This season, in 27 games played, in 93 at-bats, House has a .355 batting average, and a .400 on-base percentage – if you’re not a baseball fan, that means he’s reaching base 40 percent of the time.
He’s had 33 hits, and of those, 25 of them have been singles, seven doubles, and one triple. He’s got 16 RBI, has scored 27 runs, walked seven times, reached on an error eight times, has 13 stolen bases.
Beets has played 28 games, and has had 89 at-bats. He’s got a .281 average, and an on-base percentage of .281. He’s had 25 hits, and all 25 of them have been singles. He’s got 12 RBI, and has scored 21 times. He’s walked 14 times, reached on error four times, and has seven stolen bases in 2024.
Truman has 82 at-bats and a .402 average, a .474 on-base percentage. He’s got 33 hits, and of them, 25 have been singles, and eight doubles. He has 21 RBI, 17 runs scored, has walked 12 times, reached on an error on three occasions, and has five stolen bases.
Bullard, “The Bull,” has 81 at-bats, a .395 batting average and a .454 on-base percentage. He’s had 32 hits this season, including 20 singles, seven doubles and five home runs. His 31 RBI leads the team. He has scored 18 runs, walked six times, and has a stolen base.
Edney has 53 at-bats this year and a .358 average, and gets on base at a .426 clip. He’s got 19 hits, 15 of them singles and four doubles. He’s got 5 RBI and has scored 12 runs. He has one stolen base in ’24.
Pierce has 77 at-bats, and has an average of .273. His on-base percentage is .404. He’s got 21 hits, 16 of them singles, four doubles and a triple. He has 12 RBI, has scored 18 runs, walked 14 times, and four stolen bases.
Hendrickson, the team’s starting catcher, has had 67 at-bats this season, and has a .209 average, with an on-base percentage of .341. He has 14 hits, and all 14 are singles. He’s got 10 RBI, one run scored, and 11 walks.
Hale has had 48 at-bats, has an average of .250, and an on-base percentage of .400. He’s had 12 hits, 10 of them singles, the other two doubles. He’s had eight RBI, scored 11 runs, and walked 10 times. He’s also grabbed two stolen bases.
Cade Cox has had 47 at-bats this year, with a .298 average, a .370 on-base percentage, and 25 hits in 2024, all of them singles. He has 12 RBI, has scored 21 runs and got on base with 14 walks, as well. He’s had 17 stolen bases.