WHATABURGER OIL BELT TOURNEY STARTS THURSDAY! | And here’s the lineup
It’s just a little bit early this year, but one of the most anticipated sports events of the calendar year begins in just a couple of days at Kilgore’s Driller Park.
It’s the Whataburger Oil Belt Classic Tournament, where host Kilgore High School welcomes seven other programs from various UIL classifications for some great baseball over the course of two nights and three days – and, let’s face it, some great food at the best venue for high school baseball in the state.
Whataburger has been the sponsor of one of the oldest high school tournaments in the state since 2019.
Two of the main high schools in the ETBlitz.com coverage area – Kilgore High and Sabine High – are both in the tournament, of course, with the event being played at its entirety at Driller, Kilgore’s home park, and Sabine only about seven miles away, in Liberty City.
The first two days of the tournament will be pool play. Pool A will consist of Kilgore, Sabine, Farmersville, and Tyler Legacy’s junior varsity (Legacy is a Class 6A program). Pool B will be Hardin Jefferson, Central Heights, Harmony and New Diana.
Kilgore won’t actually hit the field until Thursday night against Farmersville. The tournament will begin Thursday morning, with Sabine facing Tyler Legacy’s JV at 9 a.m. New Diana will take on Harmony in game two at 11:05 a.m., and Harmony will, in effect, play a doubleheader – the Eagles will be in game three, as well, facing Central Heights just after that at 1:10 p.m. Thursday.
Game four will pit Sabine at Farmersville at 3:15 p.m., and Heights will face Hardin Jefferson at 5:20. Kilgore and Farmersville will meet in the final game on Thursday at 7:25. Of course, it’s a tournament, so all start times are subject to change – they’ll try to stay on time as best as possible.
The tournament resumes at 9 a.m. Friday with Harmony back in action, this time against Hardin Jefferson. Kilgore meets Sabine at 11:05 a.m. in game two on Friday – that’s actually a rematch of the season opener back on Feb. 19, won by Kilgore at Driller.
Friday’s game three, a 1:10 p.m. start, has New Diana taking on Hardin Jefferson, and then at 3:15 p.m., it’ll be Legacy’s JV against Farmersville. Central Heights faces New Diana at 5:20, and in the final game of the night, the final game of pool play, Kilgore meets Legacy’s JV at 7:25.
The games on Saturday will be based on the pool play results. Game one will be at 9 a.m., and will pit the teams that finished last in each pool against each other. Game two on Saturday will start roughly at 11:15, and will have the third-place teams in each pool facing off. Second-place teams from each pool will meet Saturday at 1:30, and the tournament’s championship game is tentatively scheduled for a 3:45 p.m. first pitch Saturday afternoon.
On Wednesday, we’ll catch up with the Kilgore Bulldogs and look at what they’ve done so far this season, and at the rest of the field in the Whataburger Oil Belt Classic Tournament.
Of course, the tournament is sponsored by ETBlitz’s partner, Whataburger, where you can visit 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including at several locations in East Texas (and take an advanced look at their menu right here: Whataburger | Order Online with Curbside and Delivery).