Through four innings of the class 3A state championship game between West and Van Alstyne, we had a tight 1-1 contest. That all changed in the bottom of the 5th as the West Trojans exploded for five runs – which gave Bailey Horn and the West defense all the momentum they would need to clinch the 2016 class 3A state championship, 8-1. .
Horn, which is the defending class 3A player of the year, picked up his 13th win of the year and MVP honors for his performance on the mound.
Game Summary:
The first couple of innings saw mild threats from each team that never materialized into runs scored.
In the second, Horn would get two quick outs before walking Jake Hillebrenner and Luke Hundt to put two men on – but a pop up would end the threat. West managed to get two aboard via the HBP in their half of the inning, but could not cash in as the game was still scoreless after two.
After a blank third for Van Alstyne, we would see West push across the first run. After Kory Webre walked to begin the inning, leadoff man Griffin Paxton would shoot a hard single to left. Webre advanced all the way to third and would later cross home plate on a sacrifice fly from Tristan Gonzalez.
Horn would have his first stressful inning in the 5th. The senior would walk Hundt and Curtius to begin the inning. After a sacrifice bunt from Burge and a ground out by Novillo, we had a brand new ball game at 1-1 after four and a half innings of play.
Feeling the pressure, West would answer back in the bottom half by adding five critical runs. A Paxton single, Gonzalez single, and Macik walk set the table with the bases loaded and nobody out. A Horn single to 2B, Wiethorn single to SS, and Kolar single to right brought in the runs.
Van Alstyne would load the bases in the 7th, but fittingly Horn would finish the game with back-to-back strikeouts to secure back-to-back state championships.
Top Hitting Performances
Griffin Paxton, West, 4-4, 1 2B, 2 R
Tristan Gonzalez, West, 2-3, 1 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI
Dalton Kolar, West, 2-2, 1 RBI
Top Pitching Performances
Bailey Horn, West, 7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 5 BB, 7 K
Bryce Curtius, Van Alstyne, 4 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 3 K
| Score By Innings | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
| Van Alstyne | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 |
| West | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | X | 8 | 10 | 0 |
