Cats play in Lufkin classic

The Whitehouse varsity baseball team competed this past weekend at the Lufkin Hudson Coca-Cola Classic tournament. Whitehouse faced Central Heights, Lufkin Hudson and Bridge City in pool play.

The Wildcats opened the tournament Thursday night against Central Heights at the Hudson field. The Wildcats jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in the first inning and tacked on five more runs in the second, cruising to a 12-2 win in five innings.

Heath Mayo got the win on the mound for the Wildcats. Seth Cashion went 3-4 on the night with 2 doubles and 3 RBI's. Ryan Bell went 2-2 on the night, and Ryan Miner picked up a triple in the first inning to kick start the five-run inning.

In the first game Friday night, the Wildcats fell to Bridge City, 5- 2. The Cats only managed two hits for the game and could not produce any offense to support a solid mound performance by Grant Brandon who took the loss.

A throwing error in the top of the fourth led to two unearned runs, and the Cats never got the bats going.

Immediately following the game with Bridge City, the Wildcats played Hudson, a 3A regional finalist last year, in the second game on Friday night. The Cats again took an early 3-0 lead in the top of the first, sparked by RBI singles by Mayo and Michael South.

The Wildcats would eventually lose 10-9 in a back and forth game which produced nine Wildcat hits, but four costly errors.

Cody Brown went 2-5 on the night followed by Brady Attaway, 2-4 with two doubles, and Cashion who went 2-2 with two walks. Chase West also sparked a late inning rally with a double down the left field line.

The game was unfortunately marked by two critical calls in the bottom of the seventh that led to the tying and winning runs for Hudson.

On Saturday, the rain fell, but baseball would still be played, as Whitehouse got a rematch with Hudson from the night before.

This time, things would swing the Cats' way as Ryan Miner ptiched a complete game to get the win, and the Wildcats banged out 10 hits in the game.

Miner also did some damage to the Hornets at the plate going 3-5 with a double and a grand slam in the third inning. Brown went 2-5, Bell 2-4 and Banks Brandon 2-3 in the game.