The Kingwood Varsity baseball team defeated the Pearland Oilers 9-5 to win the championship game of the annual Pete Runnels Invitational Tournament in Lufkin, Texas.  Down 2-0 in the third inning, the Mustangs evened the score at 2-2 when Greg Gossett doubled and Ryan Pope reached on an error.  Johnny Whittleman laid down a sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position before Ricky Cratty and Dustin Walls followed with an RBI sac fly and RBI single.  Kingwood broke the game open in the fourth inning as Matt Bardwell and Michael Hopper opened the inning with consecutive singles.  Again, the Mustangs executed another successful sacrifice bunt by Kyle Porter to move the runners up, and Kenneth Negron followed with an RBI double.  After a RBI triple by Gossett, an RBI single by Pope, and an error, Kingwood had a comfortable 7-2 lead.  But The Oilers fought back for three runs in the fifth inning to close the gap to 7-5.  The Mustangs scored their final two runs in the sixth inning on a RBI sac fly by Porter and a run scoring single by Negron.  Cratty, who was credited with the win, went five and two-thirds and allowed five runs on eight hits, one walk and five strikeouts.  Jonathan Beaty, who entered with two out in the sixth, recorded the save when he retired four of the last five Oilers he faced.

In previous tournament action, Kingwood won three and lost one on their side of the bracket to advance to the championship game

Because of wet grounds, the opening game against the Bryan Vikings was delayed until near midnight on the first day of the tournament.  The late start did not affect the Mustangs as they pounded out twelve hits and coasted to an 11-3 victory.  Starting pitcher Blake Hancock turned in another solid outing by giving up three runs on five hits and three walks in four innings of work.  He struck out seven on his way to his third win of this early season.  Beaty shutout the Vikings in the last inning to pick up the save.  The Kingwood offense was led by Cratty (4-4, double, 3 singles) and Gossett (2-2, double, single, walk).  Pope added a triple, Bardwell stroked a double, and Whittleman, Hopper, Walls, and Porter singled.

On the second day, the Mustangs squeaked out a 5-4 win against the Killeen Ellison Eagles.  In the first inning, Whittleman doubled and scored on a Cratty single.  Consecutive singles by Bardwell and Walls gave Kingwood an early 2-0 margin.  The Mustangs added a run in the second, fourth and fifth innings for a 5-0 lead and were seemingly in control of the game.  But not so fast, the Eagles patched together four runs in the sixth inning on two errors, a hit batsman and two walks.  Justin O’Bannon, who had allowed only three hits and struck out eight, had pitched a great game, but suddenly the score was 5-4 and the Eagles had the momentum.  Jimmy Jordan came in to relieve O’Bannon in the seventh inning and promptly sat the Eagles down in order to end the game and record the save in a real nail biter.  O’Bannon was credited with the win to go 3-0 on the season.  The Mustangs, who again ripped a dozen hits, were led by Walls (3-4, 3 singles), Bardwell (2-3, single, triple, walk), Whittleman (2-3, single, double, walk), and Cratty (2-4, 2 singles).   Pope, E.J. Leal, and Michael Williams each contributed singles.

Kingwood took on the Corpus Christi Carroll Tigers in the third game of the tournament.  The Mustangs took a 2-0 lead in the second inning when Bardwell reached on an error, Walls doubled, Hopper walked, and Casey Stoub singled.  But this was not Kingwood’s night as the Tigers erupted for a run in the third and nine runs in the fourth to open a 10-2 lead.  Each team added a run apiece later in the game to make the final score 11-3.  The Mustang bats were silenced as they managed only six hits – Gossett, Pope, Hopper, and Porter also added singles in the defeat

The varsity nine regrouped in the fourth game of the tournament and walloped the Athens Hornets 12-0 behind the one-hit pitching gem of Zach Tumlinson.  Although the hits were scarce for the second game in a row, Kingwood scored a dozen runs in a variety of ways – errors, wild pitches, pass balls, and walks.  The remaining offense was provided by Whittleman (1-2, 3-run homer), Stoub (1-2, double, walk), and Andrew Brooks (2-3, 2 singles, RBI).  John Rankin and Ryan Mize added singles in the blowout.  Tumlinson got the complete game win while striking out seven and allowing only one free pass.

Kingwood placed five players on the all-tournament team – Matt Bardwell, Greg Gossett, Zach Tumlinson, Ricky Cratty, and Justin O’Bannon.  The Mustangs now start district play with a 10-2-1 record

By: Todd Porter