WHITEHOUSE, Texas-A walk-off hit broke Texas High's hopes in the baseball playoffs Friday.
Whitehouse came up with a two-run rally in the bottom of the ninth, overcoming a five-run streak by the Tigers, to sweep the Class 5A bi-district series with a 6-5 win at Wildcat Field.
Reliever Matt Bundy picked up the win for the Wildcats, pitching to just one batter and striking him out. Starter Wyatt Wood threw 112 pitches in 8 2-3 innings, scattering 13 Tiger hits, fanning two and walking one.
Wood allowed all five runs-three earned.
Chris Sutton absorbed the loss, pitching to four batters and giving up just the one hit. Conner Allred was the first reliever for sophomore Rian Cellers, and Allred worked 4 1-3 innings of five-hit ball, allowing two runs-one earned, with three strikeouts and two walks.
In the top of the ninth, Chris Lyles smashed a stand-up double into the alley in left-center, and he was bunted to third. With two outs, Allred lined the go-ahead single to center field, staking the Tigers (17-13) to the 5-4 lead.
That wasn't to last, however, after a pair of walks and two outs, Zach Graham, the No. 9 batter for the Wildcats (22-9-1), doubled off the wall in right field to push home the winning run.
"There's no question that I'm proud of our kids," Texas High coach John McClure said. "We showed signs of life in the fifth and sixth innings, rallying to tie the game up with four runs, and then we scored one to go ahead (in the ninth).
"It's one of those things where once you think you've got the game in hand, it can spin on a dime. If we could have won Game 2, we had all the momentum going into the third game."
Texas High broke through in the top of the sixth and tied the game on Luke Smith's two-out single to right field, the fourth hit of the inning.
Allred started the rally with a one-out single to right, and Jackson Halter followed with a sharply hit single to right. Michael Sikorski doubled in a run with his drive over the center fielder's head.
Another run scored on Jakob Hearne's fielder's choice, which was thrown away for an error, and Ben DePriest earned an RBI with his fielder's choice. Smith delivered his game-tying single on a 1-2 pitch, knotting the score at 4.
Ashton Rogers led off the Whitehouse sixth with an infield hit, and Logan Whitfield's bunt went for a hit. The next batter grounded into a 4-6-3 double play, putting the potential go-ahead run at third, but Allred struck out the next batter to preserve the tie score.
Allred's two-out single in the top of the seventh ended with the THS baserunner left at first to end the frame.
In the bottom of the seventh, Michael Raabe and Zach Norvell had consecutive two-out hits for Whitehouse, but Cole Jean made an inning-ending catch against the wall in right field to force extra innings.
Rogers doubled in a pair of runs for the Wildcats in the bottom of the second inning to stake Whitehouse to the early lead. Cellers and the Tigers stranded the bases loaded to end the frame.
A leadoff walk came around to score for the home team in the fourth, advancing on a wild pitch and groundout, and coming in on a passed ball.
"I'm proud of our guys; it could've been easy down 4-0 to fold up a little," McClure said. "But they kept fighting until the final out. We've got a really good group of seniors, and they're going to be tough to replace. I'm proud of their effort and how hard they fought."
The Tigers had scoring chances early go for naught, stranding five base runners in the first four innings.
Chris Sutton legged out an infield single with two down in the first but didn't advance, and Sikorski lined a one-out hit to left in the second but never got off first.
Lyles singled to second base in the third, moved to second on a wild pitch, and with two outs Sutton was intentionally walked. A come-backer ended the threat.
Halter singled to start the fourth for the Tigers, but the courtesy runner was caught stealing before Hearne's ground-ball single to left. Hearne was left at first to end the inning.
Brandon Quarles lined a leadoff single for the Wildcats in the fifth, stole second, was bunted to third and scored on a passed ball, making it 4-0.
Allred was 3 for 5 to lead the Tigers' offensive attack, Lyles and Sikorski had a double and single each, and Halter and Hearne each had a pair of singles.
Texas High=000=004=001=-=5=13=1
Whitehouse=020=110=002=-=6=7=1
Two outs when winning run scored.
Rian Cellers, Conner Allred (4), Chris Sutton (9) and Jackson Halter. Wyatt Wood, Matt Bundy (9) and Ashton Rogers. WP-Bundy. LP-Sutton.