Sugar Land, Texas — In their opening game in Fort Bend Christian Academy’s varsity baseball tournament, the Tomball Kings defeated the Logos Prep Lions, 10-1, at Fort Bend Christian field. After a quiet outing in the previous night’s game with Emery/ Weiner, Kings bats caught fire against the Lions. With Kings batsmen circling the bases throughout the game, Kings starting pitcher Colin England held the Lions to one run over a five-inning outing that ended by run rule.
England started out the top of the first by collecting an early strikeout on four pitches. After forcing the next batter to ground out to third, Lions batter Allen drew a four-pitch walk from England. But, the walk was for naught, as the next batter blooped the ball into the glove of King’s shortstop Issac Gidden.
In the bottom of the first, Josh Hokenson started out things with a bang, singling on a sharp grounder to the Lions shortstop. After Gidden popped out to said shortstop, an error by Lions pitcher Rosa enabled Hokenson to advance to second, putting the pressure on early. England helped his cause by slapping a grounder up the middle to drive in the first run of the game. Jarret Sweitzer poked a fly ball in front of centerfielder Allen, who then threw out England as he was advancing to second. Back to back singles by right fielder Tyler Costas and centerfielder Grahram Cook scored Sweitzer. Then Marek Flemming came up big, blasting a bases clearing triple over the head of the right fielder and just like that the Kings were up 4-0. Rosa collected himself, and managed to strike out the next batter to end the inning.
England continued to have success heading into the top of the second, striking out the first batter he faced. Being the first one upAlley hit a double into right field. After settling Cougars batsmen Bromberg down on three pithes, Shultz dribbled a single to third, advancing Alley up a base. Shultz attempted to bait a throw down to second, which he succeeded in. But Sweitzer cut him down with an exceptional throw from behind the dish for the third out. Owen Wilkins started out the Kings half by blooping a single just over shortstop Alley’s head. While attempting to steal second, Wilkins was just barely thrown out by Cougars catcher Drake. Hokenson then singled on a ground ball to left field. The next batter was Gidden, who belted a triple all the way to the left field wall, putting the Kings up 5-0. After England popped up in the infield, Sweitzer drew a walk to put men on first and second. Rosa prevented any more damage from occurring by striking out the next batter to end the second.
Logos’ first batsmen grounded out to third basemen Marek Fleming to record the first out. The next batter Copley doubled to right field, and pitcher Rosa assisted his cause by singling to put men on first and third. After Allen grounded into a fielders choice, the Cougars put up their first run of the game. England forced the next batter to fly out, preventing any more runs from scoring, and ending the rally. The bottom of the third started out with a bang, three bangs to be precise, with batsmen Cook, Fleming, and DH Carter Moore all knocking singles to load the bases early with no outs. In an unusual play, Wilkins popped out to second base, and Cook managed to tag up from third and score. Hokenson grounded a single to score Fleming, advancing Moore to second. Gidden hit a comeback liner right at the pitcher, who managed to knock it down and prevent any runs from scoring. Rosa then induced a pop up double play to end the inning.
England pitched in a relatively quiet inning, forcing the first two batters to fly out. The Cougars next batsman grounded out to third. The Kings continued to apply pressure into the fourth, with a single from Sweitzer, and a long at bat by Costas which resulted in a walk. Cook singled on a hard grounder up the middle to score Sweitzer, and advance Costas to second. Fleming grounded into yet another positive fielders choice, driving in Costas, and advancing to second on an error. With a man on second, Moore hit a ground ball two-bagger to score Fleming and put the Kings up 10-1. Rosa recorded his last strikeout of the game, and then walked Hokenson, putting runners on first and second. After a pitching change that brought in reliever Shultz who then forced the last out of the inning.
The Cougars were finished quietly, with England going the distance collecting a three pitch strikeout before giving up a single to Harrison who was put out while advancing to second. The last out of the game came via a fly out which was caught by Fleming, ending the game with a final score of 10-1 Kings.
Lead by solid performances by Cook, Hokenson, Fleming, Moore and Gidden, who all collected multiple hits during the game. While the offense was clicking, starting pitcher England fired a complete game, only allowing five hits with four strikeouts, and only one walk across five innings.
Cougars starting pitcher Rosa lasted three and two third innings while giving up ten runs on sixteen hits during that time. The lineup failed to gain any momentum despite having runners in scoring position multiple times throughout the game.
The Kings look to carry this success throughout the rest of the tournament, while the Cougars try to rebound after suffering defeat.
