Brenham wins

HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL/ UIL CLASS 4A REGION III QUARTERFINALS — BRENHAM 11, KILGORE 2
Kilgore manages just four hits; Game 2 is Saturday
By MITCH LUCAS
sports@kilgorenewsherald.com

TOTHEPLATE— Kilgore High School junior Casey Whitmer hurls a pitch to the plate against the Brenham Cubs Thursday night. The Cubs won the first game of the best-of-three-game series. KHS now faces elimination for the first time in this postseason. The Bulldogs (27-6) must win Game 2 on Saturday (3 p.m. at Woodville) to force a Game 3, which would immediately follow Game 2.

And Brenham left with a technical knockout.

The Kilgore Bulldogs suffered their first loss in about a month Thursday, falling to the Brenham Cubs, 11-2, at Woodville’s Umphrey Field at Hennigan Park. The game was Game 1 of a best-of-three-game UIL Class 4A Region III quarterfinals series. Game 2 will begin at 3 p.m. Saturday, also at Umphrey Field.

Kilgore (27-6) must win Game 2 to force a third game, which would be played about 30 minutes after Game 2.

“We were slugged in the mouth, no doubt about it,” said KHS head coach Tim Harkrider this morning. “I think we’re going to respond, though. It’s not a one-game series. We’ve got a chance to improve ourselves on Saturday.”

The Bulldogs, winners of 14 of their previous 15 games prior to Thursday’s loss, managed just four hits: a single by shortstop Pat McCrory; a triple by second baseman Kyle Shipp; an RBI double by third baseman Daren Chappell; and a double by catcher Chase Patterson.

Brenham pitcher Tyler Faubion was tough to hit, going the first 4 2/3 innings of the contest. He allowed all four Kilgore hits and the two KHS runs, but also struck out eight, including three-up, three-down in the bottom of the Kilgore order in the bottom of the third inning.

Kilgore started the very-capable Casey Whitmer, an 11-game winner. Whitmer didn’t have a bad performance, but Brenham was able to put the bat on the ball, placing the ball in tough-to-reach places for Kilgore defenders. A couple of long balls were misplayed, and Brenham took advantage of it.

“They hit the ball extremely well,” Harkrider assessed. “...They’re a good hitting ball club, and they showed us that. We didn’t hit like we’re capable of, and that was a big difference.”

Brenham’s bats really came alive in the top of the fourth inning.

Chris Andreas led off the inning with a triple, and scored on a double by Wiley Crowson.

Cory Wellbrock singled, and although Kilgore’s Jay Philpott made a great throw that enabled Patterson to tag Crowson out at home, Wellbrock would score on the next at-bat, another triple, this time by Blake Schwartze. Schwartze hit the triple to right field, and it scooted past Philpott to allow Wellbrock to score.

Steven Martin reached on a fielder’s choice (but KHS was unable to get Schwartze at third) and then Wesley Mangan hit the third triple of the at-bat for the Cubs, scoring both Schwartze and Martin. Mangan scored, then on a ground out to first hit by Jason Gurka.

Brenham took a shocking 5-0 lead.

Kilgore got onto the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth. McCrory singled, then made it to second base on the throw, then scored on a triple by Shipp. With Shipp standing at third base and no outs, Faubion pitched his way out of it, striking out Whitmer and Trey Sands and forcing designated hitter Eddie Jones into a ground out.

The Cubs got another run in the top of the sixth when Andreas, who had reached on a fielder’s choice, later scored on a single by Wellbrock (who was tagged out at first by Andrew Terrell, but the run scored).

KHS got its only other run of the game in the bottom of the fifth. Patterson doubled to begin the inning, then Jaron Shepherd (courtesy running for Patterson) scored on an RBI double by Chappell.

The score really blew up in the top of the seventh — four Brenham batters were walked, and two runs were walked home (bases-loaded walks).

Brenham pitched three: Faubion, William Kankle and Clayton Groover. Kankle pitched to just four KHS batters, striking out one and allowing no hits. Groover, who has seven wins on the season for the Cubs, came in in the bottom of the seventh and struck out two, and forced Patterson into a ground out in between.

Whitmer didn’t walk a single batter. He gave up six runs on eight hits, and has an 11-4 record this season. Faubion collected his sixth win of the year — he’s 6-1.

The Bulldogs, who had a seven-game win streak ended with the loss, now need to defeat Brenham twice on Saturday to advance.

“It can be done,” Harkrider said. “...When we walked out of that gate last night, that game became a bad memory. We’re going to do our best to erase it on Saturday.”