A 7-6 win over Bridge City High School in extra innings advanced the Wimberley High School Texans baseball team to the University Interscholastic League 4A D2 State Championship game for the first time in school history.
Starting pitcher Gentry McGinnis (five innings) and Jackson Parker (two innings) combined to give up four hits and one earned run for a solid 4-1 win over Bridge City High School in game one of the 4A D2 State Semifinal playoffs best-of-three game series at Navasota High School Thursday, May 29.
The Texans and Cardinals met for game two Friday afternoon and the Texans won in extra innings dramatic fashion. Bridge City held a 3-0 lead before the home team Texans tied the game in the bottom of the fourth inning. Jayden Hall and Ty Thames walked before Wyatt Yeatter hit a double to get the Texans on the board with a run and an RBI.
Sage Hall got his only hit in the game and it was a good one, driving in two runs to tie the game 3-3. The fifth inning was scoreless for both teams.
Bridge City regained the lead in the top of the sixth inning when they put three runs across the plate and on the board. In the bottom of the frame, the Texans lead-off batter Cody Stoever was hit by a pitch. Gentry McGinnis hit a ball up the middle and the Cardinals got the force out at second base, but the throw to first base for the double play hit Stoever in the helmet, allowing McGinnis to take second base. He then stole third base on the first pitch to Jake Dewell, who walked on four pitches to bring up Maverick Jacobs.
A passed ball allowed McGinnis to score from third base to cut the lead 6-4 and John Whitten, a pinch runner for Dewell, moved to second base and Jacobs was awarded first base on a walk.
The Cardinals coach took a time out to bring in a left-handed pitcher to face senior centerfielder Bryson Anderson, a left-handed hitter, with runners at first and second base. Anderson’s speed allowed him to reach third base and tie the game 6-6 after he hit a ball deep into right field that scored Whitten and Jacobs. A strikeout and fly out to center field ended the sixth inning.
Yeatter, who came in to pitch in the top of the fourth inning for Thames, kept the Cardinals off the board with a pop up, a strikeout and a line drive for an out in the top of the seventh inning. In the bottom of the inning, Yeatter hit a pop up and Sage Hall flied out to center. Stoever walked and represented the winning run, but he was tagged out when running to second base after McGinnis hit a ball to the second baseman, forcing extra innings.
Yeatter took the mound for the Texans to start the top of the eighth and the first batter flied out to Anderson in center field.
The next batter singled.
Thames fielded a hard-hit ground ball at third base, made the throw to second base for the force out to start the double play and Stoever made a nice stretch and scoop for the out at first base to end the top of the inning.
“He hit a curve ball low and out where I wanted it,” Yeatter said after the game, “Ty made a good play on the grounder for a double play and got us back in the dugout.”
Dewell led off the bottom of the eighth with a fly out to center and Jacobs struck out to bring Anderson to the plate, who drew a walk on a 3-2 count. Jayden Hall had a 2-1 count when Anderson stole second base. With a 2-2 count, Hall hit a slow bouncing ball between the pitcher’s mound and first base. The Cardinals pitcher bobbled the ball with his bare hand, missing the toss to first base for an out, while Anderson’s speed allowed him to slide safely at home plate to score the winning run all the way from second base.
“I see Hall hit a weak ground ball and with two outs right off the bat I knew I had to go,” said Anderson, who was still trying to catch his breath after the celebration. “If I’m going to score here, I gotta go — I’m rounding third, I look over and see the ball and Jay Hall is safe — from there on I knew I could score to win the game. First thing I did was celebrate with my team and it was awesome.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever been as proud of you as I am today. Things were not going our way.
We were not competing the way we normally do,” head coach Jeremy Locke told the team after the win. “But you didn’t give in, you didn’t give in and sometimes it’s not the big hit off the wall, it’s the little nubber off the end of the bat. You put pressure on them to make a play. They didn’t make it and we’re going to state.”
The Texans (25-81 overall; 10-2 in the playoffs) will meet the Longview Spring Hill High School Panthers (35-7 overall; 9-1 in the playoffs) at 9 a.m.
Friday, June 6, at the Dell Diamond in Round Rock.
