WAKE UP! ON ETBLITZ.COM | A College World Series no-hitter, and the Rangers have won four straight
EDITOR’S NOTE: Day two of this week, guys, and I’ll encourage y’all, especially if you’re in or near Kilgore or Gilmer to go by and see the folks at Cozy Coffee Station. When we have an advertising partner, I believe in their products, and their products are fantastic. Their website: Home | Cozy Coffee Station, and you can find them in Kilgore at 110 Midtown Plaza, and at 755 Highway 271 North in Gilmer. I know you’ll enjoy whatever you get.
Kilgore-Gilmer Eye Care Centers Eye Spy!
The UIL Class 2A, Division II state title game has been about two weeks, but we accidentally left some photos off the Kilgore-Gilmer Eye Care Centers’ Eye Spy feature. It was an accident, because we had so much going on that morning.
But we want to make it right. We’re in the process of fine-tuning the KGECC Eye Spy before football season, so we’re going to have ANOTHER edition of it this week. When it’s ready, we’ll announce it. It’ll be brand new, with new photos. So if you’re an Overton fan who sent photos in, you’re likely to see them this week. And we’re truly sorry they got omitted that first time, just a coming-and-going error.
Camp Central
Youth sports camps, I thought, were winding down. Boy, was I wrong. I updated them this morning and there are still a TON of them left, particularly volleyball. If you’ve got a child at home that would like to get active this summer, that’s a great way to do it and meet new friends.
Check out our Energy Weldfab Camp Central. It’s updated today, and it’s right here: CAMP CENTRAL, presented by ENERGY WELDFAB | Upcoming youth sports camps, updated June 17.
A no-hitter in the CWS
You hear about what Gage Wood of Arkansas did Monday night?
The College World Series is happening right now in Omaha, Nebraska, an eight-team, double-elimination tournament to determine college baseball’s national champion.
And on Monday night, Wood, a junior, did something NO ONE had done at the CWS since 1960: he threw a no-hitter.
Wood struck out 19 BATTERS (a record for a nine-inning CWS game) in a 3-0 win over Murray State, eliminating Murray State from the tournament. They were 44-17 on the season; Arkansas is 49-14, but also already has its first loss, can’t lose again. The Razorbacks will play tonight, to meet either UCLA or LSU next; that game was to resume this morning after being suspended late last night.
The only other no-hitters in CWS history were thrown by Jim Ehrler of Texas (1950), in a 7-0 win over Tufts, and Oklahoma’s Jim Wixson (1960), in a 7-0 win over North Carolina.
Wood almost had more than a no-hitter: he took a perfect game into the eighth inning, and then hit Murray State’s Dom Decker in the foot, giving the Racers their first base-runner of the night.
Wood threw 119 pitches, and 83 of them were strikes.
The other teams in the CWS: Arizona, Oregon State, Louisville, and Coastal Carolina.
UCLA and LSU play at 11 a.m. on ESPN, and the winner of that one meets Arkansas tonight at 7, also on ESPN.
Rangers update
After an off-night for the Texas Rangers, seems like a good time to get an update – been a few days since we did so.
The Rangers open a three-game home series against the Kansas City Royals, beginning tonight with Jack Leiter on the mound, a 7:05 p.m. first-pitch at Globe Life Park in Arlington. It’s also 7:05 p.m. on Wednesday, but then an afternoon start, 1:35 p.m., on Thursday. On Friday, they hit the road to Pittsburgh, where they’ll start at 5:45 p.m. our time against the Pirates, and Jacob deGrom will get the start for the Rangers against Mike Burrows.
The Houston Astros lost Monday night, but still lead the American League West Division, 41-31, and Seattle is 4 ½ games back (36-35). The Rangers have won four straight (!!) and are five games back. The L.A. Angels are 34-37, and the Athletics, who Major League Baseball doesn’t even list as having a city by their name in the standings anymore (how pitiful), are in the AL West cellar, at 30-44.
But we’re not to the all-star break yet, so you never know what can happen.
Josh Smith is actually the Ranger with the best batting average, and it’s not great: .288. I actually would’ve missed that. I’d have thought it’d have been Wyatt Langford. Obviously I’d have been WRONG. Langford’s not even second on the team – that’s Josh Jung (.253), and he’s 87th in MLB. To find Langford, you’ve got to drop down all the way to 125th – and there’s not another Ranger between Jung and Langford. Ouch.
But at least they’ve won four straight. Let’s hope they keep it rockin.’