The Kingwood Varsity baseball team split a pair of games with the Beaumont Westbrook Bruins last week and ended their eleven game winning streak.  The Mustangs now stand at 20-3-1 on the season and 10-1 in District 22-5A play.

In their first district defeat of the year, Kingwood got off to a slow start and never really recovered as they lost to the underdog Bruin team 10-6 in Beaumont.  The Mustangs fell behind 3-0 in the bottom of the second before they rallied for three runs in the fourth to tie the game.  Ryan Pope walked and Johnny Whittleman reached on an error to lead off the fourth inning.  Ricky Cratty drove in Kingwood’s first run with a single to rightfield.  A wild pitch advanced the runners to second and third.  After two strikeouts, an alert Michael Hopper raced to first on a swinging strikeout when the pitch ricocheted wildly off the catcher’s shin guard, and both Whittleman and Cratty crossed the plate before the ball was recovered.  With the game tied at 3-3, Kenneth Negron and Greg Gossett drew consecutive base on balls to start the fifth.  Whittleman drove in the go ahead run with a single to right and the Mustangs had runners at the corners with two outs.  After Whittleman stole second, the Bruins chose to intentionally walk red-hot hitting Matt Bardwell to load the bases.  The strategy backfired when the next batter, Kyle Porter, ripped a two-out, two-strike, two-RBI single to left to increase the lead to 6-3 and give Kingwood some breathing room.  With a comfortable lead and only six outs remaining, it appeared that the Mustangs were coasting to their 20^th victory.  Unfortunately, the Bruins had other plans.  The Law of Murphy was alive and well as Westbrook rallied for seven runs on five hits and three errors in the bottom of the sixth.  Kingwood was unable to muster a comeback in the seventh and the Bruins’ 10-6 shocker was in the books.  Blake Hancock, who pitched the first four innings for the Mustangs, gave up three runs on five hits and three walks while fanning five.  Cratty, who relieved Hancock in the fifth, was saddle with the loss.  He was touched for five hits, but struck out three in two innings of work.  The Kingwood bats were silenced as they managed just five hits - Cratty had two, while Whittleman, Porter and Gossett had one each.

Kingwood returned home to Andy Wells Field for the rematch with the Bruins in the second game of the week.  After some intense practices and a players-only meeting, the Mustangs were determined to right the ship that had gone off course.  Not only did they right the ship, they installed jet fueled rocket boosters to sail past Westbrook 10-0 in a five inning run rule contest.  Pope led off the first with a walk in what would soon prove to be a one-sided heavyweight fight.  Porter, Cratty and Bardwell followed with singles for a 2-0 lead.  Hopper added a sac fly for a 3-0 lead before Dustin Walls ended the first inning onslaught with his fourth homer of the year – a two-run shot that sent the Mustangs up to 5-0.  The Bruins were dazed. 

To the delight of the vocal Friday night crowd, Pope led off the second with his second home run of the season for a 6-0 lead and the rout was on.  Cratty singled, Bardwell doubled and Hopper walked to load the bases.  Whittleman followed with a blast off the centerfield wall that cleared the bases and left him standing on third with a 3-RBI triple.  The second inning ended with the Mustangs on top 9-0.  The Bruins were now on the ropes and staggering.  

After two outs in the bottom of the fifth, Cratty smashed a double to left and scored easily on another double off the bat of Bardwell.  At this point, the fight was stopped, the opponents were sent to their respective dugouts, and Kingwood registered a 10-0 technical knockout in five rounds. 

Justin O’Bannon, now 6-0, was the winning pitcher.  He allowed two hits, walked one and whiffed four.  The Mustang hit parade was led by Bardwell (3-4, 2 doubles, single, 2 RBI), Cratty (3-4, 2 doubles, single), Walls (2-3, homer, single, 2 RBI), Porter (2-4, 2 singles), Whittleman (1-2, triple, 3 RBI) and Pope (1-3, homer, walk).

 Kingwood will play the Humble Wildcats in their next two district games.