BURTON BASEBALL BEATS BECKVILLE TO CLINCH SPOT IN THE STATE CHAMPIONSHIP

Before a packed house at Sam Houston State University on Thursday, the Burton Panther Baseball Team rallied from a 4-0 deficit to come from behind and defeat the Beckville Bearcats 8-6.

With the win, the Panthers clinched a spot in the Class 2A Region II Championship Game against Ropes next week. It will be the third time in school history for Burton to play for the title. They went to the Championship Game in 1982, and lost. The Panthers went again in 1987 and won.

The State Semifinal game was the polar opposite of last week's incredible 1-0 pitcher's duel victory by Burton over Shiner. In fact, as one famous announcer would probably say, it was at times "bowling shoe ugly." The teams combined for eight errors in the game, five by Burton and three by Beckville.

However, for Burton, in the end, the only thing that mattered was the final score, which was an 8-6 win.

For the first three innings, the game looked to be another pitcher's duel in the making. Burton's Tyler Witt and Beckville's Wesdon Harris were both putting up zeroes on the scoreboard.

The Bearcats broke through with four runs in the top of the fourth inning. Reed Chapman reached on a single, Levi Ross reached on an error, and Braxdon Alfred singled to load the bases. Brock White came up and smashed a hard single to left field that was misplayed by the Panthers, and rolled all the way to the wall. This allowed all four men to circle the bases, and give Beckville a 4-0 lead.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Burton bats finally broke through against Harris. Braydon Martin drew a one-out walk to get the rally started. Easton Witt, younger brother of Tyler, came into the game as a courtesy runner for Martin. Rueben Rodriguez singled to put two runners on base. Next up, Ryder Biggs just missed hitting one out as he banged a triple off of the left field wall that scored Witt and Rodriguez to cut the Bearcat lead in half, 4-2. Eli Jaeger followed by hitting a sacrifice fly that scored Biggs to cut the lead down to a one-run game, 4-3.

Beckville got one of the runs back on an RBI single Levi Ross that scored Tate White, and increased their advantage back to two runs, 5-3, in the top of the fifth inning.

The biggest run scoring inning for the Panthers came in the bottom of the fifth inning. Tyler Witt and Logun Tosta reached on back-to-back singles. That set the stage for Braydon Martin to tie the game up at 5-5 with a two-run triple. Easton Witt came in to run for Martin again, and scored the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly, which gave Burton a 6-5 lead.

The Panthers tacked on two more insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Jaeger was hit by a pitch, and Isaac Matthies singled. Hank Majewski came up as a pinch hitter, and laid down a sacrifice bunt. After a wide throw to third, the runners were all safe. Coy Gurka came up next, and hit a sacrifice fly that scored Jaeger to make it 7-5. Later, in the inning, Tosta reached on an error that also allowed Matthies to come home and push the lead up to 8-5, Burton.

It all came down to the top of the seventh inning. Beckville's first three batters all reached base. Brody Booth reached on an error, Harris single, and Chapman walked. At that point, Panther Head Coach Matt Thaler made the decision to go to Jaeger to try and close out the game. Ross hit into a fielder's choice that allowed Booth to score from third. Chapman was forced out at second.

The next batter, Alfred popped up to Tosta at second. Two outs.

Brock White, who was the last man in the batting order, came up. Jaeger struck him out to end the game, and preserve the win. Finally, the celebration was on.

The Panthers now get ready to face the Ropes Eagles in the 2A Division II State Championship Game. The State Championship Game is next Thursday, June 4, at 12 noon at Dell Diamond in Round Rock. KWHI will have live coverage beginning with the pregame at 11:30am.

HITTING

Tyler Witt 1-4 single, run

Logun Tosta 1-4 single, run

Braydon Martin 1-3 triple, walk, run, two RBIs

Rueben Rodriguez 1-2 single, sac fly, run, RBI

Isaac Matthies 2-3 two singles, run

PITCHING

WP Tyler Witt 6 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K

SV Eli Jaeger 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1K