McKinney Christian Comeback Win Propels Them into TAPPS Division III Championship Game

They were supposed to be a year away, but the McKinney Christian Mustangs played like it is their year as they came back in the 7^th inning to beat Lake Country Christian 4-2.  With the win, McKinney Christian moves to the TAPPS Division III Championship to meet the winner of the Geneva School/Cypress Christian game.  That championship game is to be played on Tuesday at 1:00 PM

McKinney Christian took the early lead in the top of the 2^nd.  Caden Brown got on base via fielder’s choice, went to 3^rd on a Teague Spivey single and scored on a Marc Jensen sacrifice fly to right field, giving McKinney Christian a 1-0 lead.

McKinney Christian pitcher Connor Jarzombek held Lake Country Christian scoreless for 5 innings, allowing only 3 baserunners on 3 singles.  But Lake Country Christian finally found a way to get to Jarzombek in the 6^th.

Cade Collinsworth led off the bottom of the 6^th with a single and moved to 2^nd on a Casen Davenport single.  With Jackson Nelson at the plate, Collinsworth stole 3^rd and the throw went into left field, allowing Collinsworth to score and Davenport to reach 3B.  With the game tied at 1-1, Nelson then singled up the middle to score Davenport and give Lake Country Christian their first lead of the game.

Down for the first time in the game, McKinney Christian began their comeback.  Jensen led off the 7tj inning with a single and moved to 2^nd on pinch hitter Jackson Johnson’s walk.  Jarzombek then bunted the runners over to 2^nd and 3^rd.  With one out, Jax Marshall stepped up and blasted a triple in front of the 400 foot centerfield fence, scoring both runners and giving McKinney Christian back their lead.  John Clark hit a fly ball caught by the right fielder for an out but it was deep enough to score Marshall.  McKinney Christian went up 4-2.

With the lead back, Jarzombek came back out to the mound.  He struck out the first batter in the bottom of the 7^th but gave up a single and walk to the next batters.  On the next batter, Jarzombek got a ground ball to shortstop.  McKinney Christian got the force at 2nd but couldn’t complete the double play.  On the throw to first the lead runner tried to score from third and was thrown out at home.  Catcher Caden Brown then threw down to 2nd to get out the batter trying to advance from 1st to end the game.

Jax Marshall was 2-4 on the night with a double, a triple, a run scored and the tying and go-ahead RBIS.  He was named the THSB Player of the Game.

“I’m really excited and I’m so proud of guys,” Marshall explained.  “We played our tails off.  We never let down.  I’m so proud of our team.”  On his big 2 RBI triple: “I was trying to keep my heart rate down.  Stay calm.  Stay in the box.  I just wanted to do as much as I could with my bat and fortunately I got the big hit.”

McKinney Christian Head Coach Brady James commented:  “Our motto this year has been to defy the odds and we certainly defied the odds tonight.  We only have one senior and a lot of juniors and sophomores and I wasn’t sure that we would have this kind of fight, this kind of resilience.  But I’m so proud of our guys.  They sure showed it tonight.”

THSB Player of the Game – Jax Marshall

– Tim Baugh