JOURDANTON – Champion’s pitching depth was on display last weekend when the Chargers took on Corpus Christi Ray in the regional semis.
Champion used six different pitchers during their series with the Texans and everyone did their part to get the Chargers to the finish line and defeat Ray in three games.
After suffering its only loss of the playoffs in Game 1 to the Texans, who were ranked No. 1 for a lot of the season, Champion had to win its next two elimination games and they did. Chargers coach Ben Woodchick said he had one message to his team after their loss.
“The main message was ‘play baseball,’” he said. “We didn’t play baseball in Game 1; we walked a ton and we were really emotional. We did some uncharacteristic things and played one of our worst games of the year. Ray was dang good and we knew it wouldn’t be easy but we knew we had a fighting chance. They responded and I’m proud of the guys.”
Champion (31-10-1) faced Leander Rouse this weekend in a three-game series. Game 1 was Thursday in the Austin area, while Game 2 was at Wolff Stadium on Friday and a third game, if needed, will be Saturday at Wolff, 2 p.m.
Game 3
Champion used three pitchers for the 6-2 win in the decisive Game 3 last Saturday in Jourdanton. Matthew Booth started, Nate Mayo faced a batter and then Jacob Schwope finished out the game. Booth earned the win and Schwope picked up the save.
“Matthew Booth was phenomenal, Aidan did it, Rowdy has been doing it all season and Schwope is a big moment guy,” Woodchick said. “Schwope closed the door with a big save right there.”
Evan Kuhl sparked the offense with 2 triples, one in the first and another in the fifth and scored both times. He also singled and drove in a run in the sixth.
Kuhl scored in the first and then the Chargers plated 3 runs in the fourth for the 4-0 lead. Gage Goldberg smacked a double in the inning to bring in a run and then Nic Cortez hit a 2-RBI single.
Kuhl tripled in the fifth and scored on a Sam Miller sac fly and the lead was 5-2. Kuhl said he was seeing the ball well.
“I was calm and relaxed at the plate, the first few games you get nerves because it’s the playoffs but today I just decided I was going to go out there and see the ball well and hit it and it turned out well for me,” he said.
With a 5-2 lead, Goldberg singled in the sixth and his courtesy runner scored on Kuhl’s sac fly.
Kuhl said they learned their lesson after dropping the first game in Corpus Christi.
“We were up 2-0 at the beginning of that game but we were flat, our team needed to get that energy, it was kind of a wake-up call for us,” he said. “After that, we came out here high energy and we knew we could beat these guys and that’s exactly what we did.”
Game 2
Champion won the second game, 3-2, and a lot of the scoring was done early after the Texans plated 2 runs to start the first inning, but the Chargers cut the lead in half in the bottom of the inning with a run to make it 2-1.
Evan Kuhl singled, and then a walk and a hit batter loaded the bases. Jared Wingo hit a deep fly to center and Kuhl tagged up to score from third.
It stayed there until the fifth when the Chargers made their move. Nic Cortez and Jordan Ballin both singled to put runners on first and second. Kuhl later brought in Garland Whitehead, Cortez’s courtesy runner, on a sac fly and then Cam Logan doubled to bring in Ballin to put Champion on top, 3-2, with one out.
Ray retired the next two Charger batters but the damage was done and Champion held its first lead of the contest.
The Texans still had two more at bats and put two runners on in the sixth with no outs via a walk and a single, but Champion pitcher Aidan Smith and the rest of the defense retired the next three batters with a ground out and two pop ups.
In the seventh, the Texans went down in order with a ground out and two more pop ups.
Smith went all 7 innings and tossed 94 pitches. He gave up 2 hits, no earned runs, walked 4 and struck out 1.
Game 1
The Chargers had a good start to Game 1 and scored two runs in the top of the first but those would be their only runs of the game held at Cabaniss Field in Corpus Christi.
Walks to Jordan Ballin and Evan Kuhl put runners at first and second and then Cam Logan singled to load the bases with no outs.
Sam Miller hit into a fielder’s choice and scored Ballin for the 1-0 lead. Jared Wingo followed and singled to bring in Kuhl and it was 2-0, but a double play by the Texans ended the inning.
Ray plated a run in the second and then tied it in the third to make it 2-2. The Texans pulled away with 4 runs in the fourth and opened up a 6-2 advantage.
After the first inning, Texans pitcher Keevyn Goss settled down and retired the side from the second through the fifth innings – 12 straight – before Ballin singled in the top of the sixth, but another double play in the inning by the Ray defense helped to turn the Chargers away.
The Texans added insurance runs in the fifth and sixth innings to make it 8-2. Champion tried to answer and loaded the bases in the top of the seventh but couldn’t manufacture a run.
Wingo had 2 of Champion’s 4 hits, while Ballin and Logan had the other 2. Ballin and Kuhl scored, while Miller and Wingo picked up single RBIs.
Rowdy Miller started on the hill and went 3.1 innings and gave up 4 hits, 5 walks with 1 strike out and suffered his first loss of the year. Matthew Booth yielded a hit and fanned a batter and was followed by Robbie Vela, who threw the final 2 frames and scattered 4 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk and sat down 1.
NOTES: This is Champion’s third time in the regional championship round. Back in 2016, they lost to Alamo Heights in Beeville in a one-gamer, 2-0, when the Mules had 97-mph flame-thrower Forrest Whitley, who is now with the Astros organization. … The other time Champion played for the regional title was back in 2012 when they were swept by Lake Travis, who had NFL quarterback Baker Mayfield on their team. In the previous round during the 2012 season, the Chargers defeated Calallen in a one-gamer in Hallettsville when the Wildcats were the No. 1 team in the nation, according to ESPN and USA Today.
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