The Kingwood Varsity Baseball Team, who entered the week needing two wins to claim the District 22-5A championship, dropped two close games to their archrival and nemesis – the Humble Wildcats.  Still atop of the district standings at 10-3 (20-5-1 overall), the Mustangs are now in the precarious position of having to sweep their last two games from Baytown Lee or getting help from the other contenders involved in this tight race.

Kingwood hosted a resilient Humble team in the first game of the week at Andy Wells Field.  Undefeated lefty, Blake Hancock took the mound for the Mustangs while the Wildcats sent Josh Warren to the rubber.  After a quiet first inning, Humble put two runs on the board in the second courtesy of two solo homers.  The Mustangs fought back in the bottom of the second frame when Warren walked Michael Hopper and Johnny Whittleman, and then hit Greg Gossett with a pitch to fill the sacks.  Kenneth Negron followed with an RBI sac fly to cut the lead in half before Ryan Pope crushed an 0-2 pitch over the leftfield wall for his third dinger of the year and a 4-2 Kingwood lead.  The Mustangs extended their lead to 5-2 in the third when Ricky Cratty swatted his third homerun of the season.   The Wildcats now had their backs against the wall and knew they could not afford to lose another district game if they wanted to remain in the race.  With that in mind, Humble erupted for five runs in the fourth and three more in the fifth inning behind seven hits, three of those being of the roundtrip variety. With a comfortable 10-5 margin holding up until the bottom of the sixth, the Wildcats appeared to be in the driver’s seat, or so they thought.  But the Mustangs were not done.  Whittleman opened the bottom of the sixth with a double in the gap, Negron followed with a single, and Pope drove Whittleman in on another single to cut the lead to 10-6.  After a walk to Kyle Porter, the bases were FOM (full of Mustangs) with only one out.  But give credit to the Humble pitcher as ended the threat by striking out the next two Mustang batters.  Kingwood again made it interesting in the bottom of the seventh when Hopper led off with a walk and Whittleman walloped his sixth homer of the year to trim the deficit to 10-8 with one out.  The Wildcats then called on their bullpen to stymie the uprising and preserve the 10-8 victory over the Stangs.  Hancock pitched three innings and gave up two runs, two hits, four walks and fanned three.  Cratty, who came on in the fourth, was the losing pitcher while allowing eight runs on six hits and one walk.  Jimmy Jordan and Zach Tumlinson each threw shutout innings in the defeat.  The offensive leaders were Pope (3-4, HR, 2 1B, 4 RBI), Cratty (2-4, HR, 1B), Matt Bardwell (2-4, 2 1B), Whittleman (2-3, HR, 2B, BB, 2 RBI) and Negron (1-2, 1B, SF).

The Mustangs traveled to Humble for the rematch later in the week.  This game would be the antithesis of the week’s earlier game which featured 18 runs and 20 hits, including 8 homeruns.  Veteran Justin O’Bannon would get the start for the revenge-minded Mustangs while the Wildcats countered with Josh Ruffin.  Humble took the early 4-0 lead when they scored four runs on two hits and a couple of Kingwood mental errors in the bottom of the second inning.  The lead might have been more if it weren’t for a sensational catch by Pope in centerfield.  But after the second, O’Bannon showed what he was made of as he allowed no runs on only three hits the rest of the way.  Unfortunately, he did not get much support from the Mustang bats.  In fact, O’Bannon collected the only Mustang hit through the first six innings. Finally, in the top of the seventh, Kingwood flashed some of the resolve that has made this season so successful.  Dustin Walls led off with a well-earned walk.  After two outs, Pope drew another walk.  Down to their last out, Porter laced a line-drive RBI single to left centerfield to avoid the shutout.  Cratty followed with another single to load the bases and bring the winning run to the plate.   E.J. Leal entered the game as a pinch hitter and hit a grounder that the Humble pitcher dove for, snagged and threw to first for the final out.  In a 4-1 loss that was closer than the score would indicate, Kingwood managed just three hits – singles by O’Bannon, Porter, and Cratty.  The Mustangs consistently hit the ball hard, but it was just one of those nights when the ball was hit “right at ‘em” or a Wildcat would make a spectacular defensive play.  But also give credit to Humble as they turned two double plays and did what they had to do to win the game.  O’Bannon suffered his first loss of the season and fell to 6-1.  He allowed four runs on six hits and four walks while striking out six.

The pain of the loss was further exacerbated when catcher and clean-up hitter Matt Bardwell, who was forced to leave the game after receiving a nasty cut on the hand from an errant swing of a Wildcat bat in the second inning, was taken to the hospital for stitches.  Whether he can return and play with this injury is unknown at this time.  Junior back-up catcher Andrew Brooks replaced Bardwell, threw out one baserunner and performed admirably considering the pressure of the situation and the importance of the game. 

Kingwood will meet Baytown Lee for two games next week while Humble plays Baytown Sterling in two games.   The Mustangs’ magic number is two.  Any combination of Kingwood wins and Humble losses totaling two secures the district championship for the Mustangs.