James Schock had 4 RBIs and Ben Braatz gave up just one unearned run as The Brook Hill School defeated McKinney Christian 8-1 in the second TAPPS Division III State Semifinal Game. Brook Hill will play Bay Area Christian for the TAPPS Division III State Championship Tuesday.
Brook Hill got on the board in the top of the 1st. With 1 out, Cooper Schock walked, advanced to 2B on a Samuel Williams single, went to 3B on a wild pitch and scored on a Lex Rich Sacrifice Fly Ball to CF.
With the 1-0 lead, Brook Hill picked up 3 more runs in the top of the 2nd inning. Schock hit a double in the right centerfield gap with the bases loaded, scoring all 3 runners and giving Brook Hill a 4-0 lead.
The Guard picked up another run in the top of the 4th. Benjamin Braatz singled to start the inning and a Blake Whitten sac bunt moved him to 2B. With two outs, Levi Visser singled to centerfield scoring Braatz. Brook Hill took the 5-0 lead.
McKinney Christian cut the lead to 5-1 when they picked up a run in the bottom of the 5th. Judd Witte got on base by an error to start the inning. He went to 2B on a wild pitch and then stole 3B. With two outs, Caden Brown looped a single over the head of the second baseman scoring Witte.
But Brook Hill got another 3-spot in the top of the 7th. Schock had an RBI double, Williams had an RBI single and then Williams scored on an error making it 8-1
In the bottom of the 7th, the first McKinney Christian got on by an error but Braatz proceded to strike out the next three batters to finish the game. Braatz pitched 7 innings and gave up only 4 hits with 1 unearned run, no walks and 8 strikeouts. He was named the THSB MVP of the game.
“I felt great today,” Braatz explained. “Everything was working good. It was just another day on the mound. I’m looking forward to tomorrow. That was my main goal.”
Brook Hill Head Coach Don English commented on today’s game: “We’ve been pitching and playing defense well. This could have been our 5th consecutive shutout but we gave up that one unearned run. But we are starting to hit now. We strung some hits together today and Coop had a huge game for us. We are starting to swing it well.”
“We expect big things on the mound tomorrow and we need to keep swinging like we have been. If those things happen we should be in good shape tomorrow.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | |||
| Brook Hill | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 9 | 2 | ||
| McKinney Christian | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 |
