McKnight, Feltman key War Eagles win over Highlanders

THE WOODLANDS, Texas- The Oak Ridge War Eagles defeated The Woodlands Highlanders 7-3 Friday night, continuing to impress spectators with their 11-0 record in district and consideration as arguably one of the top baseball teams in the state of Texas.

Click here to watch The Woodlands vs. Oak Ridge Game Highlights

Oak Ridge (20-1, 11-0) head coach Mike Pirtle is excited to see what his boys have in store for the upcoming games, but advises them to not get too ahead of themselves.

”With what happened the last couple of years, getting beat in the first round of playoffs, I think there is kind of a mission there to make sure we get better and do better things,” Coach Pirtle said. “Like I’ve told the kids, I’ve been down that road that we continue to go and once you get in the playoffs, anything can happen, so I think they’re feeling more of not just one round or the second round, I think they’re feeling pretty good about continuing on for a long ways.”

Despite the War Eagles’ 7-3 win, the Highlanders (10-13-1, 4-6) began to build momentum as the young Highlanders are looking to make the postseason.

The Highlanders started the first inning with a bang with a two-run home run from Dillon Kotsios that also scored Shane Sirdashney.

The next scoring didn’t come until the bottom of the second inning, when the War Eagles scored three runs courtesy of a Matt Mihalov single and a two-RBI double from Riley McKnight, scoring Durbin Feltman and Mihalov, giving Oak Ridge a 3-2 lead.

Oak Ridge continued to churn out the offense scoring three more runs with help once again from Bryce Foley, in addition to Mcknight and Luken Baker. McKnight led the offense charge for Oak Ridge going 3-for-4 with three doubles, three RBI’s and a run scored.

The Woodlands tried to claw back into the game in the top of the fifth inning, with Tommy Simutis sliding into home plate and capping the score for the Highlanders at three runs. The War Eagles were not finished either, and scored their final run in the sixth inning with the help of speedy Demarco Thomas, giving Oak Ridge a 7-3 lead.

Highlanders head coach Ron Eastman was not disappointed in his team’s loss, and recognized the difficulty in playing a team with a now11-0 district record.

“They are an outstanding hitting team, and we made a couple of good pitches and they did a good job in both innings when they scored three runs,” Coach Eastman said. “We had those good pitches and they were able to get a good swing on the ball and get a good hit in that first inning when they scored three and again in the fourth. Our freshman had them out on the front foot twice and they get the base hit then they get the bloop, they just did a good job of catching it when we had runners in scoring positions, and we had runners in scoring positions early a couple of times, and we didn’t cash in on that, they’re a great team.”

The War Eagles will continue district play next Friday against Summer Creek, whereas the Highlanders will play Summer Creek Tuesday at home.

The Woodlands and Summer Creek are currently tied for fourth place with a 4-6 record, just one-half game back of Atascocita with the final week of the regular season to determine playoff seeding.