Lovejoy Captures First State Baseball Championship with 7-2 Victory Over Sharyland

 admin  |    Jun 6th, 2026

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Two years after suffering heartbreak on the biggest stage, Lucas Lovejoy returned to Dell Diamond and finished the job.

Behind a complete-game performance from Tyler Scarborough and an opportunistic offense, Lovejoy defeated Mission Sharyland 7-2 on Saturday morning to claim the UIL Class 5A Division II State Baseball Championship. The title is the first state baseball championship in program history and caps a remarkable season for the Leopards.

Lovejoy’s only previous appearance in a state championship game came in 2024, when the Leopards suffered a heartbreaking loss to Grapevine in the bottom of the seventh inning. This time, there would be no late-game disappointment.

The Leopards wasted little time taking control. Logan Corley opened the bottom of the first with a single before Brady Sommers worked a walk. Lucas Smith then delivered a two-run double to left-center field, and Carson Branch followed with an RBI single to give Lovejoy a quick 3-0 lead.

Sharyland answered with a run in the second inning when Diego Chapa singled home Edgar Quintanilla, trimming the deficit to 3-1. But Lovejoy responded in the fourth, taking advantage of a Sharyland error and a pair of wild pitches. Branch’s sacrifice bunt brought home two runs, extending the lead to 5-1.

The Leopards added another run in the fifth when Corley singled to score Tanner Brown, pushing the advantage to 6-1. After Sharyland got a run back on an RBI double from IJ Garza in the sixth, Lovejoy answered immediately as Reed Blakely doubled and later scored on a Sharyland error to make it 7-2.

Scarborough made the early lead stand. The senior right-hander scattered six hits and allowed just two runs while striking out six over seven innings. With the victory, Scarborough finished the season a perfect 12-0.

Lovejoy collected nine hits in the championship victory. Corley led the way by going 3-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBIs, while Smith finished 1-for-3 with a double and two RBIs. Branch contributed a hit and three RBIs, including the pivotal two-run sacrifice bunt in the fourth inning.

For Sharyland (38-6), Garza doubled and drove in a run, while Chapa added an RBI single. The Rattlers finished with six hits but were unable to overcome three costly defensive errors.

Branch’s all-around performance earned him State Championship Game MVP honors as the junior shortstop helped lead the Leopards to a historic title.

When the final out settled into Scarborough’s glove, Lovejoy had turned the memory of 2024’s heartbreak into championship glory, securing the Class 5A Division II crown with a convincing 7-2 victory over Sharyland.

“Right now it’s all adrenaline,” MVP Branch said. “I’m just excited because these are the guys you want to do it with. We knew after the rain delay and with a 9 a.m. start that we had to come out with energy, and that’s exactly what we did by jumping on them early. This team is full of dogs, and when you have a pitcher like that on the mound all game and eight other guys ready to pick you up, it makes everything a lot easier.”

Lovejoy Head Baseball Coach Ryan Gros had this to say about his team “These kids are built on toughness, and from the first pitch to the last, they truly believe they’re going to win. That belief never wavers, and as long as there’s a pitch left in the season, they know they’ve got a chance. I’m so proud of them because they were ready for the biggest moment, they showed up when it mattered most, and they earned every bit of this.”