Sophomore Walker Davis may have earned the second spot in Texas High's pitching rotation for District 16-5A play.
Davis threw a near-perfect three innings of relief Friday at the Tigers' diamond in helping THS (9-7) beat North Lamar in non-league play, 3-2.
Senior Kyle Choate started on the mound for the Tigers, earning the win with four innings of work. He only allowed two hits and two runs-both in the first inning-walking one and striking out two.
The crafty Davis started the fifth, retiring the first seven batters he faced before Seth Adams reached safely on Texas High's only error. Davis struck out five of the 10 Panthers he faced.
"Both of those guys (Choate and Davis) threw well today; Kyle was his own worst enemy today," THS coach John McClure said. "He hit a couple of batters which hurt him. The best pitch in baseball is a strike. If you get strike one you can go from there. Walker did a great job of coming in and putting the fire out."
The Tigers only had five hits off North Lamar right-handers Zeke Wood and Doran Hutchinson.
Conner Allred had two of those hits, and both went for extra bases. He smashed a two-out double to right-center in the first. Allred moved up on Colby Adkins' single to left, scoring when Choate reached on the first of three Panther errors.
The decisive inning was the third. Eric Sutton looped a single to center, and was promptly sacrificed to second by Cole Christen. Sutton raced home when Allred lined a drive to left for a hit. The outfielder attempted a diving catch, but the ball got past him, resulting in a triple.
Allred scored what proved to be the winning run when Adkins just missed a home run to deep right, kept in the park by a wind that was blowing in 15-20 miles per hour.
"Allred can be your offensive hero, he usually gets great at-bats," McClure said. "We always preach timely hitting. This was a good team effort. It's hard to stay focused in a non-district game. You always want more focus, but those guys did a good job today."
The Tigers did let a scoring opportunity get away in the fifth when they loaded the bases on three walks. Hutchinson got out of that jam by inducing a fly to center for the third out.
North Lamar (11-4), one of the favorites in District 14-4A, scored single runs in the first two frames.
Cade Conway hit the second pitch of the game into left for a single, and was sacrificed to second by Wesley Culberson. Austin Exum made it 1-0 with a single up the middle.
Choate, who struggled to get ahead in the count with most batters, did get up on Jacob Roberts and Trenton Smith. However, he hit both with Roberts eventually scoring on Sam Cowling's grounder to shortstop.
Rubin Ramirez had a pinch-hit single for the Tigers in the sixth. North Lamar got out of that inning with its second doubleplay of the game.
THS returns to 16-5A play Tuesday against Sulphur Springs.
North Lamar 110 000 0 - 2 2 3
Texas High 102 000 x - 3 5 1
Zeke Wood, Doran Hutchinson (5) and Nick Noble. Kyle Choate, Walker Davis (5) and Jordan Thomas, Choate (5). WP-Choate; LP-Wood.