WAKE UP! ON ETBLITZ | 7-on-7 preview this afternoon, featuring Kilgore; LSU a win away from title; Rocker & Rangers win in Pittsburgh
EDITOR’S NOTE: Wake Up! Sunday (and every day) is brought to you by Cozy Coffee Station – find ‘em in Kilgore at 110 Midtown Plaza, and in Gilmer at 755 Highway 271 North, although they’re closed on Sundays. You’ll have to do it the other six days of the week. But it’s worth it. Tell you what: go to their menu online here, Home | Cozy Coffee Station, look at what you want, and let it build up until in the morning. It’ll be twice as good then!
Wake Up! turns into Already Up!
Late on Wake Up! and my apologies. I actually have quite a bit going on today: a cookout and then a dessert auction at our church, and yes, I baked something, believe it or not. And I believe it’s edible! It was a salted caramel cake (CARE-a-mel is how I pronounce it; don’t stop reading ETBlitz.com forever if you disagree with me on that).
At any rate, a lot happening today, including this…
7-on-7 State Tournament preview
Our preview of the Texas State 7-on-7 Football Tournament happening late this week in College Station is hitting later today, regardless if the pools are announced. We may not know times for Thursday’s pool play games – that’s what I had been hoping to get – but if we don’t, I’ll finish the preview as best I can, and it’ll hit this afternoon here on ETBlitz.com.
Of the 12 high school teams in the ETBlitz.com coverage area, we had a handful that attempted to qualify for the state 7-on-7 tournament. Briefly, 7-on-7 is a passing brand of football; it’s played in soft-shell helmets, non-tackle touch, wide-open with 15-minute halves. Kilgore and Sabine from our coverage area qualified last summer, and then Kilgore ran through its pool without a problem, undefeated, all the way to the state semifinals before losing.
Kilgore qualified for state once again this year. Kilgore plays in what the 7-on-7 people refer to as “Division II,” which is the equivalent of the 3A and 4A schools. Division I would be where the 5A and 6A programs would be, and Division III, as you would guess, would be the schools that normally compete in the smaller classifications of UIL.
The whole shindig takes place at Veterans Park in College Station on Thursday, Friday and Saturday of next week. There’s no cost to spectators to get in – you will need to bring your own chairs and be prepared for heat. By the time Kilgore plays three to four pool games, then plays the games on Friday afternoon, there could be a seven or so game path to the title game.
LSU-Coastal Carolina CWS
Well, LSU and Coastal Carolina are facing off in the College World Series to name college baseball’s national champion, and one of the all-time tradition-rich programs is about to win it.
That would not be Coastal Carolina.
It’s a best-of-three, and LSU won game one, 1-0 (I never said it was a blowout), on Saturday night at Charles Schwab Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska. Kade Anderson only gave up three hits and had 10 strikeouts in the win for the Tigers, their 52nd win this season. Wow.
Coastal Carolina actually has 56 wins and had a 27-game winning streak broke in that loss. ALSO wow.
The only run of the game: an RBI single by Steven Milam in the first inning.
Game two is today at 1:30 p.m. our time on ESPN, and if you’re like me and won’t be near a TV, it’s streaming on ESPN+. You have to have a subscription for that (which I do. YES!!)
If Coastal Carolina is able to pull it out today and force game three, by the way, that would be Monday night at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN, as well.
Rangers update
The Texas Rangers got a 3-2 win at Pittsburgh on Saturday, with Kumar Rocker getting the W on the mound – he’s 3-4 on the season, by the way, and does have a bowling shoe-ugly 6.68 ERA. Yecch. But hey, they won Saturday, right?
Texas is 38-39 on the season, with a 15-23 road record. That’s really ugly, too.
But they’ve won two straight games, both over the Pirates, and they’re back in third place in the American League West Division. They’re six games behind the Houston Astros (44-33), and Seattle is there in second place (38-37).
Texas goes for a third straight win at Pittsburgh today, an early game at 12:35 p.m. our time, with Jack Leiter on the mound against Bailey Falter against the Pirates, and let’s hope that’s exactly what he does, is Falter.
Did you guys know that the visitors’ football locker room at the University of Alabama is named the Fail Room?
It’s actually named for a contributor. There’s a story behind it, for another day.
At any rate, Josh Smith and Evan Carter each went 1-for-4 for Texas in Saturday’s win; Smith had an RBI. Corey Seager had a hit and an RBI, and catcher Kyle Higashioka had a single, and teammate Ezequiel Duran came around to score on an error.
Rocker pitched 5 1/3 innings, and struck out four, walked three, and allowed two earned runs on five hits.
No off-day Monday for the Rangers, by the way: they visit Baltimore tomorrow night at 5:35 p.m., then play again at that time on Tuesday, AND again on Wednesday. Thursday is the open date this week, and then they’ll begin a home series against those tacky-looking Seattle Mariners on Friday.
That’s a 7:05 p.m. first-pitch at Globe Life Park, and that’s when Rocker is scheduled to start again. If you wanna be there, here’s how you can get in: Rangers Ticket Information | Texas Rangers.