The Kingwood Varsity Baseball team won their ninth game in a row while trouncing three district foes this week.  The Mustangs, currently ranked 5^th in the area, are now 17-2-1 overall and a perfect 7-0 in District 22-5A.

In the first game of the week, Kingwood played host to the Baytown Lee Ganders in a game that was expected to be close, but was not.  Blake Hancock pitched another complete game masterpiece to improve his record to 6-0.  He struck out twelve, walked one, and allowed three hits in the 10-0 victory.  The Mustang offense provided plenty of support as they hung seven up in the second and another three in the fourth.  Matt Bardwell opened the second inning with a double.  Kyle Porter dropped a bunt single down to put runners at the corners.  Dustin Walls followed with a blast to the right-centerfield gap to score Michael Williams, the pinch runner, and Porter.  Walls crossed the plate with the third run on a Kenneth Negron single.  Ryan Pope drove in two more with his first home run of the year.  Johnny Whittleman singled, Michael Hopper walked and both scored on a two-out 2 RBI single by Bardwell to run the score to 7-0.  The run-rule was on when Ricky Cratty cranked a three-run homer in the fourth to make the final score 10-0.

The Mustangs entertained the Port Arthur Memorial Titans the next night at Andy Wells Field.  This game was not expected to be close, and it was not.  Hopper and Cratty combined to throw a two-hit shutout as Kingwood walloped the Titans 11-0 in another run-rule contest.  The Mustangs, who scorched the Titan pitching for twelve hits, were led by Whittleman (3-3, HR, 1B, 3 RBI), Pope (1-3, 2B, 2 RBI), and Negron (1-2, 1B, 2 RBI).   Cratty added a triple, Walls and E.J. Leal stroked doubles, while Hopper, Williams, Ryan Mize, and John Rankin contributed singles in the win.  Rankin also hit a towering shot to leftfield that just missed clearing the wall, but was sure to be extra bases; however the Titan leftfielder made a spectacular catch to rob the Mustangs of another scoring opportunity.

Under new District 22-5A rules, after the first round of district play, each team plays the same opponent twice a week. Therefore, the varsity traveled to Port Arthur later in the week to take on the Titans in the rematch.  In what would prove to be the most miserable weather of the season, Kingwood got a brief scare, but was able to take care of business in a 15-5 marathon win.  With steady rain peppering the players and a cold, gusty wind blowing in from the outfield, the Titans jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning.  The stunned Mustangs retaliated in the top of the third when Hopper drew a two-out walk, Pope singled, and Whittleman followed with an RBI single to cut the Titan lead in half.  Bardwell laced a line-drive to leftfield that was misplayed, and two more runs scored.  Porter followed with an RBI single and suddenly Kingwood had regained control of the game at 4-2.  The Mustangs added four more in the fourth inning as Justin O’Bannon singled, Greg Gossett was hit by a pitch and Hopper ripped an RBI single that plated Jimmy Jordan, who was running for O’Bannon.  Pope walked and a variety of Titan errors allowed Kingwood to increase the lead to 8-2.  Negron led off the top of the fifth by getting hit by a pitch, Gossett singled, and both scored on Hopper’s double down the rightfield line.  Hopper crossed homeplate on a Pope single, Pope scored on a Whittleman sac fly, Bardwell doubled and Williams, running for Bardwell, scored on an error for a commanding 13-2 lead.  But to the dismay of the Mustang faithful who had withstood the unpleasant weather conditions for two grueling hours, the Titans rallied for three runs in the bottom of the fifth to cut the lead to 13-5, prevent the run-rule and extend the game further.  Kingwood closed out the scoring in the seventh when Bardwell and Porter opened with consecutive singles and scored on a sac fly by Negron and a single by Jordan.  O’Bannon was credited with the win and ran his record to 5-0 as he went five innings, struck out eight, walked two and allowed four hits.  Jordan shutout the Titans in the last two innings while allowing two hits and fanning one.  The Mustang bats were powered by Porter (3-4, 3 singles, 2 RBI), Hopper (2-4, double, single, walk, 3 runs, 3 RBI), Bardwell (2-4, double, single, walk), Pope (2-4, 2 singles, walk, 3 runs), O’Bannon (2-4, 2 singles), and Gossett (2-4, 2 singles, 2 runs).  Whittleman and Jordan also singled in the 15-hit slugfest.

Kingwood will take on the Baytown Sterling Rangers in the two district games next week.