In the season opener Kingwood dropped four homeruns on Westfield enroute to a 12-2 victory. Justin Murphy, JB Sowyrda, Michael Flower and Michael Buckalo all left the yard in this one-sided affair. Dustin Walls pitched a strong five innings giving up only three hits, striking out four while allowing three free passes. Walls, Sowyrda and Murphy each had two hits. David Hoke joined the hit parade with his first double of the season.
The second game saw the Kingwood Mustangs rout the Westfield Mustangs 10-2. Lance Pendleton pitched the first 5 innings giving up four hits and four walks while striking out six. John Nicholson pitched a perfect sixth inning getting Westfield 1-2-3. In what may be a frequent scene this season, a number of professional scouts were in attendance to watch Lance pitch. Pendleton had two hits in the game, including his first homerun of the season. The rest of the offense came from Dustin Walls with two hits, and one hit each from Justin Murphy, JB Sowyrda and Raymond Inn.
In the third game, Kingwood shut out Clear Lake 8-0. Michael Hopper got the win pitching all six innings, giving up just four hits. Kingwood scored in every inning but the first and knocked out ten hits. Murphy and Pendleton each had two hits. Hopper, Walls, Flower, Buckalo, Raymond Inn and Ryan McQuarrie each got one hit.
On Friday night, two strong baseball programs collided with a match up with Austin Westlake. A close game was broken up in the bottom of the sixth when Kingwood, trailing 2-1, put three runs on the board. Seven more runs in the bottom of the sixth gave the Mustangs an 11-2 run rule victory. The game turned around in the sixth with Michael Buckalo’s long homerun to left center leading off the inning and Lance Pendleton’s steal of home with two outs. Kingwood continued their strong hitting notching nine hits. Buckalo and Hoke had two each. Murphy, Sowyrda, Flower and Pendleton each had one hit. Despite all the offense, the star of this game was Ricky Cratty. Cratty, a junior, held the potent Westlake Chaparrals to only 2 runs and 5 hits through six innings. Coach Denny is looking for the depth in his pitching staff and Cratty’s performance had to impress him.
Kingwood brought a 4-0 record into Saturday’s final game Conroe. Conroe had already lost two games while winning only one, and the Mustangs may have been over-confident. The game was tied three to three in fifth when four Kingwood errors allowed five runs to score. Kingwood scored two in the bottom of the fifth to make the score 8-5 but Conroe scored seven more runs in the sixth and seventh to put the game away. Michael Buckalo pitched the first three innings giving up three runs. John Nicholson pitched two innings and got the loss but he was victimized by the sloppy defense. David Hoke pitched the sixth and looked sharp, striking out two, but he too received some shaky defensive support. Justin Murphy pitched the seventh inning for Kingwood and threw the ball well. Michael Hopper hit the lone extra base hit for Kingwood, a line drive homerun over the right field fence in the fourth inning. JB Sowyrda and Justin Murphy each had two hits for Kingwood. Lance Pendleton, EJ Leal and Raymond Inn each had one hit.
The first week-end of the 2002 season is in the books and Coach Denny, although disappointed with the final game saw his team knock out 43 hits, 46 runs and seven homeruns; six by different players. Add to this some strong starting pitching and Kingwood looks ready to make a statement this.
All-Tournament selections went to Justin Murphy, Michael Flower, and Michael Hopper.