Prep Baseball Report

Episcopal Wins SPC State Championship 5-4 In Extra-Innings



By Toby Bicknell
Texas Scouting Director

Twitter: @PBR_Texas

Saturday, April 28

DALLAS, TX - The Kinkaid School and The Episcopal School, both from the Houston area, met for The SPC State Championship Saturday morning at The University of Dallas. Both teams entered the contest with 20+ win resume’s. Taking the mound for Episcopal was 2020 RHP Tanner Witt, the No. 10 player in PBR 2020 Overall Ranking.

The Episcopal Knights took an early 3-0 lead behind RBI’s from Peter Geib, Jack Grams and Blake Nethery. Kinkaid went to the bullpen in the second inning, handing the ball over to Jonathan Thomas. Thomas would settle in, going seven innings and keeping Kinkaid within striking distance, holding Episcopal to two runs (one earned).

Episcopal starter Tanner Witt cruised through the first two innings, sitting the Falcons down in order. After the Knights added another run in the top of the third, Kinkaid got on the the board when Witt walked in a run. Episcopal up 4-1.

Kinkaid proceeded to chip away at the Episcopal lead, scoring a run in the fifth on a Ford Young RBI double, and two more in the sixth, tying the game on a Behr Bruce single through the left side. Episcopal 4, Kinkaid 4.

With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, senior shortstop Trei Cruz made a barehanded run-through play on a chopper over the pitcher’s head to send the game into extra innings. In the top of the eight, Cruz came to the plate for what would be his final at-bat in his high school career. The Rice recruit launched a towering home run down the left field line, putting Episcopal up 5-4. Fast-forward to the bottom of the eighth. After a two-out walk brought the winning run to the plate, Episcopal handed the ball to infielder Blake Nethery to close the game. Nethery struck out the first, and only batter he faced to seal the 5-4 victory for Knights.

STATS

Episcopal
T. Witt: 5 IP, 3 R, 3 H, 4 BB, 5 K; Batting: 2-4
T. Cruz: 1-4, HR, RBI, 2 R, BB
J. Fox: (W) 2.1 IP, 0 R, 2 H, K, BB
J. Grams: 2-4, RBI
B. Nethery: Save, 0.1 IP, K; Batting 1-3, RBI

Kinkaid
J. Thomas: (L) 7 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 K, 2 BB
F. Young: 1-4, RBI
B. Bruce: 1-2, 2 BB, RBI, R
R. Erickson: 1-3, RBI


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