THE FLYOVER! | Our baseball roundup, featuring wins by Tatum, White Oak, Arp, Kilgore, Overton and more!

It appears the Tatum Eagles and the White Oak Roughnecks are on a collision course in District 16-4A.

Tatum won its sixth straight game Tuesday night, beating West Rusk, 10-1, and is now 6-0 in district play, and coach Charles Foshee’s ‘Necks are a game back – they’re 5-0 in district after beating Gladewater by a run, 5-4, on Tuesday night. That was White Oak’s ninth consecutive win.

Neither can afford to look ahead: they both play plenty of games between now and then in a district that is talented AND loaded. The Eagles (13-4 overall) have West Rusk (7-9 overall, 2-2 in district) again on Friday night, and coach Ronnie Hendrix’s Raiders will do everything they can to put a monkey-wrench in things. Then, Tatum visits Troup on Tuesday, and Troup (12-6, 3-2) has the open dates from district play this week.

White Oak and Tatum don’t actually meet until April 15, then again on Thursday, April 17 (that Friday is Good Friday prior to the Easter holiday).

The Roughnecks (15-2 overall right now) have a trip to Gladewater (10-8) in their immediate future on Friday, and then they get to face West Rusk twice next week before facing those same Troup Tigers the week of April 8 and April 11.

So, for Tatum in its win over West Rusk on Tuesday, the Eagles broke a 1-all tie after the first inning by scoring five runs in the second, and added four more in the fourth. Tatum finished with 10 hits; West Rusk with seven.

Grant Adcock went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Cooper Whiteus went 2-for-4 with a triple. Kody Hines had a hit, a double. Tristin Berry also went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Jaxen Prince went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Dustin Henigan went 1-for-2 and scored twice. And Colt Bullard and Cayden Tatum each had an RBI.

A host of players pitched for coach Dustin Russell’s Eagles. Berry went four innings, allowing three hits and a walk, but no runs. He struck out four. Tatum pitched an inning and allowed four walks, but no runs and no hits. Bullard pitched an inning and allowed the one run, earned, but no walks. And Logan Cansler went an inning, allowing no runs, no hits and no walks, and had a strikeout.

Three pitchers also hit the mound for West Rusk. Kullin Tavarez pitched three innings allowing seven runs (five earned) seven hits, walked two, and struck out two. Troy Hunley pitched an inning, allowing three runs (two earned) on one hit, walked three and had a strikeout. And Chris Sanchez went two innings, allowing two hits, but no runs or walks.

At the plate, Cole Jackson went 2-for-3, and Caidon Landon had a hit and an RBI; and Kam Brown and Hunley each had a hit.

White Oak 5, Gladewater 4: This one needed extras – two extra, in fact, as the game went to nine innings.

Coach Zac Spears’ Bears scattered four runs over the first six innings; White Oak scored two in the first inning, then two in the fifth. Gladewater came back and tied the game with a run in the sixth that would send the game into extras.

How’d it end?

Jaxsen Ludlow drew a walk and stole second, and then scored on a one-out single by teammate Jordy Robertson in the bottom of the ninth to get the win.

For White Oak, Tyson McKinney went 2-for-5 with a home run and a double, and 3 RBI; Brady Greenwood went 3-for-4 with a double, and scored three times; Robertson had the one hit and RBI, but made it count; and Collin Wheat went 2-for-4.

Ludlow had two stolen bases and Nico Soto and Carson Rhodes each had one.

On the mound, Wheat threw five innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on two hits, three walks and struck out nine. Ludlow pitched four innings, gave up no hits, one earned run, walked five and struck out five.

For Gladewater, Sean Burke threw seven innings, allowing four runs, all earned, on eight hits, but walked none, and struck out eight. Luke Brown pitched 1 1/3 innings, giving up one run, earned, on one hit, walked one and struck out two.

Gladewater stayed right with the Roughnecks but had only two hits: a single by Aubry Floyd and an RBI, and a double by Landen King, who had 2 RBI. Alex Villalpando also had an RBI.

Arp 10, Sabine 2: Staying in District 16-3A, coach Chris Moore and his Arp Tigers picked up another win Tuesday night, bouncing back on the road in Liberty City after a couple of losses to White Oak last week.

Arp (5-11-1 overall, 1-5 in district) plated three runs in the top of the first, then scored a run in each of the next five innings, and scored twice in the seventh, on eight hits in the game.

Sabine (0-15) out-hit the Tigers – the Cardinals finished with nine hits – but had five errors.

Will Sanford homered for Arp and finished with 3 RBI. Matthew Lowe had two hits, one of them a double, and an RBI; Caden Cliborn also had two hits, including a double, and 2 RBI; and Mason Wallace, Layton Shelburne, Wyatt Johnson, and Julian Barocio each had a hit. Shelburne had 2 RBI.

Alex Ponce had two stolen bases for the Tigers; Wallace and AB Martin each had one.

Cliborn went 5 1/3 innings, allowing two runs but neither earned, on six hits. He walked two and struck out 10. Hudson Orpineda, just a sophomore, threw 1 2/3 innings, allowing one hit, one walk and had one strikeout.

For Sabine, Lincoln Royce pitched five innings, allowing seven runs but only three earned, on five hits; he walked five and struck out two. Liam Herbert pitched two innings, allowing three runs (one earned) on three hits, walked one, and struck out two.

Cole Loveless went 3-for-4 for the Cardinals, one of them a double; Syler Pierce also had a double; Kellen Hill went 2-for-2; and Collyn Lambeth went 3-for-4, all singles.

The two teams play again at 6 p.m. Friday, this time at Arp.

Carthage 8, Gilmer 0: Three teams in District 16-4A appear to be playing really solid baseball right now: the Spring Hill Panthers, the Carthage Bulldogs, and the Kilgore Bulldogs.

Gilmer had been, but has now lost two of its last three after a four-game winning streak. The Buckeyes are 10-7 overall and 3-3 in 16-4A, with a trip to Carthage for a rematch coming up Friday.

Against Carthage on Tuesday night, the Buckeyes just couldn’t produce much offense. Aiden Davis and Chevy Edwards had the Bucks’ only two hits in the game.

Carthage pitcher Cade Moore wasn’t overpowering, but did some damage: walked just one, allowed just those two hits and struck out six.

For Carthage, Brooks Soape had a double and an RBI. Maddox Martinez had a triple and also had an RBI. River Leach had two singles and an RBI, and Kaden Ritter had three singles and an RBI.

Carthage is 9-8 overall, but 6-0 in district play – Spring Hill is also 6-0 in district.

Kilgore 8, Cumberland Academy 1: In the hours before the game, this game got moved from Tyler to Driller Park in Kilgore.

Who knows if that made a difference, but Kilgore (4-2 in district) is playing good baseball right now; the Diamond ‘Dogs, in the first year under coach Zach Hubbard, has lost just once since March 7, in the Jasper Tournament.

Tanner Beets, the current Whataburger / ETBlitz.com Player of the Week, went 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI, and scored a run for KHS. Brayden Williams had a triple and an RBI. Kolton Hale and Cason Edney each had two hits. Jackson Tucker Phillips, Kaeson Clayton, Salvador Cervantes, and Jaxon Dickey all each had one, and Dickey, Clayton, and Joe Hendrickson all each had an RBI. Beets, JTP and Cervantes each had a stolen base.

Edney pitched four innings and allowed no runs, three hits and had five strikeouts. Rafello Adamez went one inning on the mound, and allowed just one hit.

C. Walker threw six innings for Cumberland (1-12, 0-6), giving up eight runs, four of them earned, on 11 hits, with a walk and two strikeouts.

The two will play again on Friday, and according to the KHS Diamond ‘Dog Baseball Booster Club Facebook page, the game is scheduled to be played at Driller Park in Kilgore. We’ll check on that and update on Thursday.

Also in 16-4A on Tuesday, Henderson run-ruled Chapel Hill, 11-1, and Spring Hill beat Pine Tree, 7-0. We’ll try to get more on that Henderson-Chapel Hill game.

Overton 13, Waskom 3: Overton went down 3-1 in the first inning, went ahead 4-3 in the fourth, and then went crazy with nine runs in the fifth inning to blow the game open on the road Tuesday night in Waskom.

The two District 19-2A teams will rematch on Friday in Overton, starting with a junior varsity game at 4:30 p.m.

Right now, the top of the district looks like this: Beckville is 5-0, Ore City, 4-1, and Overton, 2-2. Waskom is not there; the Wildcats are currently 0-2.

Against Waskom Tuesday night, it was Rylan Holleman AGAIN with a home run, his only hit of the night, but doing damage: 3 RBI for the Mustangs (13-5 overall this season).

Mason Rowe went 2-for-4 for the Mustangs with an RBI. Braxton Harper went 2-for-4, as well, with a double. Joey Zalman had a hit. Brody Brown had one, as well, and an RBI. Bryce Still had a hit (a double) and scored twice. Bryson Bobbitt had a hit and an RBI and scored twice. Landon Hill went 2-for-4 and scored a run, and Jayden Edwards had a hit and scored a run.

Waskom had six hits; Nate Espy had three of them, all singles.

Rowe and Bobbitt each had two stolen bases for the Mustangs, and Edwards had one. Espy had two for Waskom, and Jacob Woodward had one.

Holleman got the win on the mound for Overton. He pitched five innings, allowing three runs (just one earned) on six hits, walked one and struck out seven.

Blake Looper went 4 2/3 innings on the mound for Waskom. He allowed 12 runs (five earned) on 13 hits, walked one, and struck out three. Teammate Landon Rogers threw one inning, allowing one run, unearned, on one hit, and struck out one.