Home sweet home

The first season ever for the East Texas Pump Jacks is nearing its close, but the Pump Jacks won't have to travel very far for the remainder of their inaugural campaign.

That's because the last six games are at home. The 'Jacks (20-22) begin a six-game home stand tonight at Driller Park, wrapping up the Texas Collegiate League's regular season without having to leave Kilgore. The Pump Jacks host McKinney tonight and on Wednesday night, both 7:05 p.m. starts.

East Texas hosts Brazos Valley on Thursday and Friday, then Coppell visits Driller on Saturday night and Sunday to finish the regular season. The TCL playoffs begin Aug. 5, and depending upon where the Pump Jacks finish in the league, they might have a home game that night.

Over the weekend, the 'Jacks moved to 20-20 on the season on Friday, and claimed second place in league play. But they dropped two games at Coppell — 8-7 on Saturday night and 2-0 on Sunday — to fall back to third.

In the TCL playoffs, the top-seeded team (McKinney right now) would face the fourth-seeded team (Brazos, again right now) in the first round, and East Texas would face Coppell. Those would be best-of-three-game series. The winners of those series move on to the TCL championship, another best-of-three format.

Saturday's game went into the 10th inning, before the Copperheads scored a run and broke the 7-all tie. That victory gave the Copperheads second place alone, and ended a three-game East Texas winning streak.

J.D. Dunn, Paige Hodges, Matt Curry and Adam De La Garza each had two hits for the Pump Jacks. Garrett Smith had three hits, including a triple. Kilgore native Pat McCrory took the loss, in spite of pitching well in the final 1 2/3 innings. David De La Chappelle was the winning pitcher for Coppell. Kilgore native Jaron Shepherd, who will be a sophomore at Navarro College next year, had two hits and 2 RBI.

On Sunday, the Copperheads got a 2-0 win and moved two games in front of the 'Jacks, although if the standings remain the same, they'd face each other in the first round. Coppell got both of its runs in the seventh inning.

There are still plenty of things to be decided, as the 'Jacks finish the regular season, and more things going on at Driller. Drinks and other refreshments are discounted tonight on "Two-Dollar Tuesday," and grandstand admission is half price if you're wearing Pump Jacks gear on Wednesday.

Some drinks are just 50 cents on Thursday night, and Friday night, there will be another fireworks show following the game.

Saturday, the franchise will have team posters available for fans, and Sunday night is family night, with discounted grandstand tickets and concession packages.

Tickets are available online at pumpjacksbaseball.com, or by calling (903) 218-GOET.

• Murray to A's: According to the Pump Jacks' web site, pitcher Justin Murray is off to Oakland.

Murray has signed with the Oakland A's, the site reported this morning. Murray is the first Pump Jacks player to go pro. He was drafted by the A's in the 29th round of Major League's Baseball's first-year player draft last month. He would have been a senior at Kansas State University this school year.

Over five starts with the 'Jacks, Murray got one decision. He was 0-1, and had a 4.45 ERA. He had pitched 30 1/3 innings pitched and had allowed 28 hits. He struck out 27 and walked just five, according to the 'Jacks' own statistics. He pitched seven innings and gave up only one run and two hits against Coppell on July 20.

Murray is expected to be assigned to the Vancouver Canadians, Oakland's Class A Northwest League team.

Murray was one of four Pump Jacks players who were drafted last month. The others: Luke Burnett of Louisiana Tech (in the 14th round to Seattle), Justin Fowler of Texarkana College (in the 30th round by Atlanta), and Curry of Howard College (by Pittsburgh in the 37th round).