Tomball scored 4 runs in the 4th to break a pitcher’s duel and Karson Reeder held Pearland to just one run as the Tomball Cougars captured the 2024 6A State Championship with a 4-1 win over Pearland. It was Tomball’s 2nd Baseball State Championship but their first one in 6A.
Reeder and Pearland pitcher Jesse Barfield had the hitters struggling to get anything going. Only Pearland’s Nico Partida had a base hit through the first 3 innings.
But Tomball finally got to Barfield in the 4th but they did most of it with two outs. With one out Braeden Scherzer got on with an infield single. After a strikeout, Catcher Hopkins singled to right field to put two on. Reeder came up and singled left field that scored Scherzer. Hopkins moved to 3rd and Reeder to 2nd with the throw home. 9 hole hitter Josh Olivo drove a single up the middle that scored both Hopkins and courtesy runner Alex Grant. Tomball then got the bases loaded and a Sampson hit by pitch scored Olivo to make it a 4-0 lead.
Reeder continued to give Pearland fits until the bottom of the 7th when Cade Adams hit an RBI single that score Jett Hernandez. Reeder then got a foul ball that was caught by RF Hopkins to end the game. Reeder pitched 7 innings giving up the one run on 4 hits, 1 walk and 5 strikeouts. He was named the UIL 6A Championship Game MVP.
“I felt good on the mound today,” Reeder explained. “I knew I had to just lock in, compete and do my thing. We have one of the best defenses in the country. We practice it. We don’t freak out. We don’t panic. We just go out and play baseball.”
“The kids on this team are such unbelievable kids,” Tomball Head Coach Doug Rush commented. “Tomball is such a great town and such a great baseball town. To bring it home in 6A is unreal. We knew we were going to be good early in the season. We knew we had good pitching. The kids just bought in and worked real hard and here we are.”
Tomball…..0 0 0 4 0 0 0 – 4 8 0
Pearland….0 0 0 0 0 0 1 – 1 4 1
