WR’S JACKSON, TROUP’S GILLISPIE | The Whataburger / ETB Players of the Week for April 7-12!

Troup High School senior Taylor Gillispie (above) and West Rusk senior Cole Jackson (inset) are the Whataburger / ETBlitz.com Players of the Week for April 7-12! (Photos by MITCH LUCAS – ETBLITZ.COM)

Well, we call it the “player(s) of the WEEK” award, not the “lifetime achievement award.”

But the two most recent honorees would qualify for both, even if we called it that.

West Rusk High School’s Cole Jackson and Troup High School’s Taylor Gillispie are the Whataburger / ETBlitz.com Players of the Week for the week of April 7-12!

And both of them are familiar names, both to regular readers here on ETBlitz.com, and as previous winners of the Whataburger / ETB award.

Taylor won it less than a month ago, as she and the Troup Lady Tigers softball team were in the middle of District 16-3A play at that point. And Jackson won back during football season.

They both return as winners after performances last week, having shown up in a big way in games their respective teams needed to win in the toughest 3A district in both softball and in baseball in East Texas – and maybe the whole state.

Troup softball, coached by Murphy Williams, has played 27 games this season, and they’re 22-5. They’ve won 10 straight. And several of them have been against competition like White Oak, 4A’s Spring Hill, and in their own district, Arp, a battle that’s coming right down to the very end of the regular season.

Troup and Arp each have only one loss.

Gillispie did a big part to make sure Troup kept it that way last week, in a pair of wins against White Oak’s Lady’Necks, always a tough opponent.

Troup beat White Oak, 12-2, on Tuesday, then again on Friday, 14-7.

In Tuesday’s game, Gillispie went 2-of-4 with a home run and a double, scored twice, and finished with 3 RBI.

The game was shortened to five innings by the UIL’s 10-run rule, but Gillispie still held White Oak to just four hits – with White Oak’s lineup, that is amazing. She allowed two runs, one of them earned, and walked only one. She struck out seven, in 78 pitches thrown and 21 batters faced.

On Friday, it was a bit of a different story in White Oak, as the Lady’Necks gave up seven runs in the first two innings, but came back, scoring six of their own and staying in the game.

Gillispie got the win, but she had to throw the complete, seven-inning game to do it. Still, she gutted it out: seven innings, 34 batters faced, seven runs allowed (four earned) on seven hits, five walks, and eight strikeouts – 130 total pitches thrown.

At the plate: another home run, and 3 RBI. She also had two stolen bases in the contest.

When we came out to deliver the gifts to Mr. Jackson for winning this award, we were informed that it’s possible he can become West Rusk’s career leader in strikeouts this Thursday.

We don’t doubt it. We’re pretty convinced after watching him for four years that there’s no sport Jackson can’t play.

Right now, we’re also convinced most of his opponents are counting the days until his graduation.

Now, the West Rusk Raiders aren’t at the top of the baseball 16-3A standings, in the first year for head coach Ronnie Hendrix. But they ARE in fourth place, and if they can stay there for the finish of the regular season – they’ll be returning to the UIL’s Class 3A playoffs. And if you can get into the playoffs, you can do some damage.

West Rusk proved that last year with a run three rounds deep.

The Raiders are on a three-game winning streak at this writing, and here’s what Hendrix and his boys have left: at Arp tonight, April 15, a 4:30 p.m. junior varsity start and varsity to follow: at home against Arp, which is also senior night, on Thursday, also with JV starting at 4:30; and then home against Gladewater next Tuesday to close the regular season.

If West Rusk can stay at least in the top four, they’ll move on to the postseason.

Last week, the Raiders faced a Sabine team determined to get their first wins in the 16-3A schedule.

The Raiders beat Sabine 8-2 on Tuesday, then 8-0 on Friday.

In Tuesday’s game, West Rusk went up 2-0 early, held Sabine scoreless for much of the game, and then added six runs late.

Jackson went 4-of-4, one of his hits a double, and scored twice. He also helped out with 4 RBI.

Now, on Friday, Jackson and teammate Kullin Tavarez, combined with good defense behind them, were able to shut Sabine out. The Cardinals did manage two hits – singles by Kellen Hill and Lincoln Royce – but they didn’t score.

Jackson threw five innings of scoreless baseball, allowing two hits and two walks, with eight strikeouts. He faced 20 batters, and threw 68 pitches in the five innings.

There is this: Jackson has 69 strikeouts this year, with the three games left. If he gets five more strikeouts, he would pass Ty Harper as West Rusk’s career strikeouts leader. Harper holds the record at 73. Jackson could tie it with four strikeouts, pass it with five.

And Jackson does hold the single-game strikeout record, a masterful 15-strikeout performance in an 8-0 win at Gladewater back on March 4.

ETBlitz.com partnered with Whataburger back in January, 2024 to present these awards, and we are SO glad we did. They’re chosen by a panel every week, and the winners receive an ETBlitz.com T-shirt, and all kinds of gifts from Whataburger’s local owners, DKT Investments.

Who better to partner with than the very best restaurant, anywhere? A restaurant that is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week? One that has an app for smart phones that allows customers to build up points for free items? One that serves first-class breakfast, not just from 6 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. – that’s lame! They do it every day from 11 p.m. until 11 a.m.! THAT’S how you do it!

Whataburger’s food is absolutely second to none, from the original burgers, cheeseburgers, shakes, malts and the world’s best French fries to new items, like their Whatawings, the Monterey Melt, and even classic items that they bring back, like the Mushroom Swiss burger.

Order early in the app, or before you get there, look at the menu on their website here: Whataburger | Order Online with Curbside and Delivery.

For anyone who’d like to go back and read all of our player of the week stories from this school year, here you go:

Congratulations again to Troup’s Taylor Gillispie and to West Rusk’s Cole Jackson, both once again the Whataburger / ETBlitz.com Players of the Week.

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