Baseball: Highlanders win four of first five

THE WOODLANDS, Texas – The Woodlands High School baseball team began defense of its 2013 state championship with four wins in five games while hosting the 2014 Highlander Varsity Classic at Scotland Yard, Thursday through Saturday.

The Highlanders defeated both Klein Collins and Kinkaid twice during the event. The only loss was a 6-3 setback to Langham Creek in the middle game of three on the Highlanders’ Saturday schedule.

“It’s a great tournament,” The Woodlands baseball coach Ron Eastman said. “You’ve got great teams here, solid performances, solid coaches. It’s a lot of fun to get out on the field with good weather, finally, after playing hit or miss with the weather the last couple of weeks.”

With lots of question marks coming into the season, Eastman said he was glad to get in as many games as he could over the weekend.

“We need it,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll continue to get out on the field and have a lot of those questions answered. It’s a good group.”

There is no question about the ability of Chris Andritsos. The junior pitcher/first baseman belted two homers, including one in the Saturday finale; a 4-0 blanking of Kinkaid. In addition to the long ball, Andritsos fired a complete-game one-hitter, striking out 15.

He opened the event with three hits, including a homer, in an 11-1 win over Klein Collins. Hillin Warren also homered in the opener while Colton Wardle and Ben Gooch contributed with three and two hits respectively.

Michael Francis gave up just four hits over five innings, striking out four.

Scott Stephens then hit homers in back-to-back games. Stephens delivered in a 13-2 win over Kinkaid with Even Samoff throwing two innings of one-hit relief while striking out three.

Stephens crushed a grand slam home run in an 8-2 win over Klein Collins. Stephens erased a 2-0 deficit with his third-inning shot.

It was more than enough firepower for Mark Doerries and Devin Fontenot, who combined on a two-hitter.

Langham Creek briefly halted the Highlanders’ run, building a 6-0 lead before Wardle accounted for all of The Woodlands’ offense with a three-run homer in the fifth inning.

Aaron Milone yielded just two hits over 3 2/3 innings of relief.

“Up until the Langham Creek game I’d liked our positive energy,” Eastman said. “The first three games we played with a lot of positive energy and played with a high tempo, which we preach, and I liked a lot of what I’ve seen.

“We didn’t handle adversity very well when we got behind. So that’s something that obviously we’re going to need to address and make sure that when we face adversity in a very tough district that we’re ready for it.”

The Highlanders will play in the Fort Bend Tournament, Thursday through Saturday.