Cypress Christian Moves to Division III Championship Game in Wild Finish

 admin  |    May 16th, 2023

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		1	2	3	4	5	6	7		R	H	E
Geneva School	.	0	1	0	0	0	4	0		5	7	2
Cypress Christian	.	0	5	0	0	0	0	1		6	3	2

Cypress Christian had a big lead, lost it and then found a way to win as they beat Geneva School in the bottom of the 7^th to earn a berth in the TAPPS Division III Baseball Championship Game 6-5.  They will meet McKinney Christian Tuesday at 1:00 PM to determine this year’s Division III State Champion.

Geneva School took the early lead in the top of the 2^nd.  Colton Lutz walked, went to 2^nd on a pickoff error and then scored on a George Guy RBI double, giving them a 1-0 lead.

But Cypress Christian erupted in the bottom of the 2^nd.  The Warriors loaded the bases on singles by Beckett Swinney and Gavin Gray and a walk by Brody Tucker.  Ameron Sheikh walked to score Swinney.  Drew Mestayer drew a walk as well to score Gray.  A balk scored Tucker.  A Zach Thibodeaux double scored 2 more and Cypress Christian took a 5-1 lead.

The 5-1 score held up until the 6^th inning when Geneva School had a big inning of their own.  Grady Roberson and George Vina singled and Colton Lutz walked. With the bases loaded, Shawn George singled up the middle scoring Vina and Lutz to cut the lead to 5-3.  Guy George then hit his 3^rd double of the night scoring Lutz and S. George and tying the ball game at 5-5.

Geneva School held Cypress Christian in the bottom of the 6^th and Cypress Christian held Geneva School to no runs in the top of the 7^th setting up Cypress Christian to have a chance to finish the game.

After a strikeout, Mestayer, Thibodeaux and Warren Haudek walked to load the bases.  Beckett Swinney came to bat and hit a line drive to right field.  RF Sam Armstrong rushed in to try to make the catch but was unable to snag it allowing Mestayer to score the winning run from 3^rd.

Starting pitcher Jacob Lukaszewski pitched 5 innings giving up one unearned run on 3 hits and 4 walks while striking out 6.  He was named the THSB Player of the Game.

“Coming into the game I felt great,” Lukaszewski explained.  “I was hitting all my spots.  My breaking balls were in the right spots and my changeups were working away.”  On the big win tonight:  “I couldn’t ask for better guys to be around me.  I had complete faith that they would get the job done and finish what I started.”

Coach David Swan commented on the game: “We got a great 5 innings from Lukaszewski and just didn’t close the way we would have liked.  We are a young team but we are a resilient team and it was good to come back and finish it in the 7^th.  Credit to our guys.  Geneva is a heck of a team and they were very tough.”

THSB Player of the Game – Jacob Lukaszewski