WAKE UP! on ETBLITZ | The first-ever edition of what’s happening, what’s going to happen, and what you need to know
Good morning! Welcome to the very first-ever edition of WAKE UP! on ETBLITZ.COM, on Friday, May 2, 2025.
So, what’s happening?
LOCAL ATHLETES MEDAL, PERFORM WELL AT UIL STATE TRACK MEET
Student athletes from high schools across the state, and several from the ETBlitz.com coverage area, are in Austin this week for the University Interscholastic League (UIL) State Track & Field Championships.
Class 4A and Class 3A schools competed on Thursday at the University of Texas at Austin, specifically at Mike A. Myers Stadium, and several East Texas track athletes are bringing home medals from the event.
Gilmer’s Lucas Cano medaled twice: he won gold in both the 4A boys shot put and the 4A boys discus. Gladewater’s Lady Bears relay team of Adyson Evans, Paytin Thompson, Ki’zyah Miles and Peyton Hunter won gold in the girls 3A 400 meter relay, and then Thompson won a bronze for her finish in the 3A girls 200 meter dash.
Gladewater’s Kingston Sheffield won gold in the 3A boys triple jump, and White Oak’s Kyler Priest brought home gold in the 3A boys pole vault. Sabine thrower Sam Black was good for a silver medal in the 3A boys discus, and also finished fourth in the 3A boys shot put.
For a good, long read on all the happenings from Thursday at the state meet, here’s our story: STATE TRACK THURSDAY WRAP-UP | Lady Bears win relay gold; Cano a double gold-medalist; complete results from day one, in one story.
And don’t forget, there’s one more athlete from the ETB area to compete: Overton High School’s Christian Hall, who will be in the spotlight today at 11:30 a.m. for the 2A boys high jump.
HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL PLAYOFF UPDATE
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; 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
Lindale 4, Kilgore 0: Kilgore, which has improved all season but hasn’t had two of its best pitchers, struggled a bit finding offense at home Thursday in game one of 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.
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., 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 Friday 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.
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.
RANGERS SLIP AT HOME
The Texas Rangers were at home on Thursday at Globe Life Park in Arlington, continuing their series against the Oakland A’s.
Texas had bombed the A’s, 15-2, on Tuesday, but the last two games, it’s been Oakland, a 7-1 win for the A’s on Wednesday and a 3-0 win Thursday night.
The Rangers’ lineup managed just three hits in the game, and only two off of Oakland’s Jeffrey Springs, who went six innings, allowed the two hits, walked just one, and strangely, finished all that with just one strikeout. Mason Miller got the save for Oakland, throwing one inning.
Tyler Mahle took the loss for the Rangers, allowing five hits and one walk; he struck out six.
Left fielder Wyatt Langford, second baseman Marcus Semien and first baseman Jake Burger had the hits for Texas, now 16-16 and three games out of the lead in the AL West. The division leaders? Not the Houston Astros, who are 16-14, but the unlikely Seattle Mariners, at 18-12.
And those Mariners come to Arlington for a series that begins tonight, a 7:05 p.m. start. Jack Leiter will get the start for Texas, and Bryan Woo for Seattle.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
University of Texas head football coach Steve Sarkisian was asked about Arch Manning, the team’s expected starter at quarterback, in an interview with ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
“I think there’s something that’s unique about Arch,” Sarkisian said. “You can watch him throw and you see when you get up on him in person, man, he’s a bigger guy than maybe people think. When you watch him throw, the arm talent and the deep ball is there. Then you watch him move and you’re like, wait, this guy’s a better athlete than I thought. Definitely got grandpa’s gene. It’s not the uncles, he got grandpa’s gene. There’s an infectious leadership that he has, that I don’t want to say is unintentional because he intentionally leads. You can feel that. But the unintentional leadership ability he has, players gravitate to him, they want to be around him.
“They like him for who he is, not for the name on the back of his jersey. And I think that’s something that he provides. He’s a fiery guy. He enjoys playing the game. Even in practice he’ll make a throw, and he’ll look over at me and wink at me almost like, ‘Did you like that?’ And so we have really good rapport, but I understand now because of my rapport with him, why the players have really good rapport with him. He just has a natural ability to engage with people.”
Texas, who has made the College Football Playoff the last two seasons, is likely in the marquee game of week one of the 2025 season: at defending national champion Ohio State on Aug. 30. It’s also the second season in a row that the Longhorns play the defending national champion at its own stadium: Texas played, and defeated, 2023 national champ Michigan last season.