Pasadena First Baptist Christian Academy Finishes Journey, Captures TAPPS Division IV State Title

The Pasadena First Baptist Christian Academy Warriors knew they were going to be a good team this year but the road to a championship is never easy. Saturday they completed the journey capturing the TAPPS Division IV State Championship with a 15-2 win over Covenant Classical. It was their third baseball state championship and the first since 2018.

FBCA started the game in a way that seems to have been an omen for the whole game. Leadoff hitter Canon Thompson was hit by a pitch, stole second and went to third on an errant throw to second. He scored on a Jackson Waggoner sacrifice fly to center field. FBCA got two more runners on via an error and hit by pitch and Mateo Cisneros brought them home with a 2 RBI single that gave the Warriors a 3-0 lead.

Covenant Classical got one run back in the bottom half of the inning when Luke Barker scored on a Hudson Williams fly ball.

But the wheels fell off for Covenant Classical after that. Helped by an error, 3 walks and 3 hit by pitches, FBCA erupted for 9 runs in the top of the second. Waggoner and Jonathan Neel batted twice in the inning and had RBI singles in both at bats. Hudson Gregory also had a sacrifice bunt RBI on a suicide squeeze play. It was 12-1 after the top of the 2nd inning.

Covenant Classical picked up another run in the bottom half of the 2nd when Alexander Steed scored on a bases loaded hit by pitch making it 12-2.

FBCA picked up 3 more runs in the 4th. Caleb Espinoza doubled home a run and Neel and Cisneros both had ground out RBIs to make it 15-2. FBCA relief pitcher Gregory faced just 6 batters in the 4th and 5th to secure the 5 inning, 10-run rule victory.

Catcher Jackson Waggoner was 2-3 with 2 runs and 4 RBIs. He also threw out a runner trying to steal against no stolen bases. For his performance, Waggoner was the named the Division IV Championship Game MVP.

“Since the beginning of the season we looked forward to playing together and having a memorable season, especially the seniors, and I think we did that,” Jackson stated. “Our bats were good today. We weren’t swinging for the fences. We just simplified our approach and put the bat on the ball and catch barrels.”

Head Coach David Turner commented, “We knew we had a good team and we knew getting by Northland was going to be tough. But we kept our focus and we came out and played good defense, had good pitching and had timely hits. Our defense has carried us all year long. This team was loose all the time. There was lots of laughter among them. But they knew how to get serious.”

“Now all the of the championship teams at First Baptist are going to start arguing ‘Who is better’. I can already see it happening now” Turner laughed. “But this is a good team.”