Back at it: Wall advances to second championship in two years

Before the season began, Kirbyville came in as the preseason number one team in 3A baseball.  Before the playoffs began, Wall had taken over that spot with a perfect record.

It truly appeared that we watched two state championship quality teams on Friday morning from the Dell Diamond as it took nine innings for Wall to advance past Kirbyville, 5-4.

“I’m glad the fans got what they paid for,” said Wall head coach Jason Schniers on what could go down as the best game of the tournament.  “We had front row seats and there is nothing better than seeing high school kids compete.  We tip our hats to Kirbyville and it’s sad that someone has to lose.”

Tied at 4 in the bottom of the ninth, Hawks shortstop Caleb Heuertz hit a two-out double to the right field wall, setting the table for five-hole hitter Gage Weishuhn.  The senior calmly hit the first good fastball he saw up the middle, scoring Heuertz.

“I just saw a fastball right down the middle and I knew that it was my time to do my job in the game,” said the right fielder.  “I put the ball straight up the middle and watched what happened.”

Schniers noted that Weishuhn had struggled earlier in the game, but knew of his players potential and ability to come through when it mattered the most.

“That’s our kids all year long,” said Schniers.  “Two outs and we get a double. Gage had struggled earlier in the game, but he is a good baseball player and he got him a pitch that he could handle.”

Not to be outdone was Hawk reliever Ryan Gully, whom won his state semifinal start two years ago.  He did not pitch last season due to injury and had been used sparingly this season up to just the last few weeks.  Gully relieved starter Caleb Heuertz in the sixth and did not allow an earned run while striking out 10 Kirbyville batters in high-stress moments.

“He threw 5 innings (last week) and then 4 innings today, so he’s up to 23 or 24 innings for the year,” Schniers said.  “We have not used him much this year and haven’t needed to, but he has come up for us big in the last two outings.  Who knows, he may have to go again tomorrow. He dug deep and kept his team in it.”

Wall started the game out hot with 3 hits apiece in the first two innings to create a 2-0 advantage through 3 innings.

However, Kirbyville would respond in the fourth, tying the game.  Haydenn Sharp and Logan Webb both had RBIs, driving in Wallis and Bishop, which had singled earlier in the inning to set the table.

Kirbyville would score another run in the fifth to knot the game again at 3.

Wildcats 1B/P Justin Herriage singled to begin the sixth before Wallis got the biggest hit of the game up to that point, driving a ball to deep left field to bring in Herriage, putting Kirbyville up for the first time in the game.

The stress could not be any higher in the bottom of the 7th, as Wall got the first two batters on as Kye Herbert and Gully walked.  Burchett reached the pitch limit after the first walk, giving way to Tyler Brown. After a failed sacrifice bunt and foul out, Gage Weishuhn walked to load the bases.  With a 2-0 count on Jake Jansa, Kirbyville’s Craig Jones brought in Justin Herriage to pitch. Jansa walked two pitches later before Mascorro was retired with strikes, which sent the game to extra innings and the thrilling finish.

Wall has plenty of players on their roster that took part of the state championship game in 2017.  This go-around, they plan on a different end result.

“Every time you do something new in life, you learn from it,” said Schniers.  “These kids learned from that experience, and hopefully we can overcome what we couldn’t do last time.”

Wall Top Performers

Gage Weishuhn, 1-3, 2 BB, Walk-Off RBI single

Kye Herbert, Wall, 1-3, 1 BB, 2 RBI

Caleb Heuertz, Wall, 3-5, 1 R

Ryan Gully, Wall, 4 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 10 K

Kirbyville Top Performers

James Burchett, 2-4, 1 RBI

Hunter Wallis, 2-3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB