Highlanders look to make it 3-for-3 at state

The UIL Class 5A State Baseball Championships have been good to The Woodlands High School baseball program. And the Highlanders have been very good in two previous trips there.

The Woodlands (36-4) faces Northside O’Connor (31-6-2) at 3 p.m. Friday in the second UIL Class 5A state semifinals game of the day at the Dell Diamond in Round Rock. It’s the first state tournament for the District 27-5A champion Panthers.

The first state semifinals matchup, a noon Friday start, pits Arlington Martin (36-7-1) and Dulles (31-7).

The state championship game is set for 11:30 a.m. Saturday.

A big send-off party, complete with music and cheering, is planned for the team as they depart for Round Rock. The event will be held at 10:45 a.m. Thursday at Scotland Yard. The bus will leave at noon.

The Highlanders have returned home with state titles in both prior appearances.

State tournament highlights
2006 – The Highlanders (38-1) won the state and national championship, under current coach Ron Eastman, with a 5-3 win over Katy in the Class 5A finals at the Dell Diamond. And while current Major Leaguers Paul Goldschmidt (Arizona Diamondbacks) and Kyle Drabek (Toronto Blue Jays) led the way, it was pitcher Steven Maxwell who got the win in the final game of the season and was voted Championship Game MVP. Drabek defeated Midland 5-3 in the semifinals game.

2000 – The Highlanders run-ruled Duncanville 11-1 in the state semifinals at Disch-Falk Field before Vincent Sinisi lined a two-out double in the sixth inning that broke a 2-2 tie and gave the Highlanders a 3-2 win over No. 3 nationally-ranked Corpus Christi Moody. The championship game was delayed by rain and finally finished on a Monday with The Woodlands prevailing under coach Mike McGilvray, an assistant coach at College Park High School this past season.

This year’s team, ranked No. 1 in the state, has displayed the talent necessary to make its mark and hoist another trophy.

Starting pitchers Ryan Burnett, Carter Hope and Chris Andritsos have combined for 29 wins in 32 decisions. Throw in an incredible relief appearance from Brandon Miles, who shut out Rockwall over the final four innings of the third and deciding game of the Region II-5A championship series, and you have the bulk of a pitching staff with serious credentials.

Highlanders’ pitching has held the opposition to one run or less in 20 games this season, including 13 shutouts - three in the playoffs. Prior to the Rockwall series, The Woodlands pitching staff gave up just six runs total in seven postseason games.

The Highlanders continue to do work at the plate as well. Eight hitters have compiled batting averages at or above the .300 mark. Andritsos (.387) leads the way with Blaine Gillespie (.325), Charlie Warren (.324), Alex Dunlap (.321) and Josh Shaw (.321) doing the heavy lifting along with dependable bats belonging to Hillin Warren (.312), Luke Sherley (.300) and Kolbi Brown (.293).

Hope and Joshua Pruitt proved to be clutch as well, driving home two runs apiece in the region finals series opener, a 12-6 win over Rockwall.

Heading into the state tournament the Highlanders have won 12 of their last 13 games.

Northside O’Connor won consecutive one-run nail-biters – 2-1 over Laredo United and 3-2 over Eagle Pass – to win the Region IV-5A crown. Prior to that, the Panthers fought back from 1-0 deficits (both one-run losses) to San Antonio Reagan and Corpus Christi King in both area and region quarterfinals playoff series respectively.

But rally they did, scoring 55 runs over those four games. They, too, have eight players batting above .300; three of those are hitting .400 or better.

The Panthers are led both at the plate and on the mound by Justin Garcia (12-1 on the mound and hitting .415 at the plate) and Mark Ecker (7-2 on the hill while batting .430).