Andritsos, Gartner lead Highlanders past Summer Creek

THE WOODLANDS, Texas - The Woodlands Highlanders defeated the Summer Creek Bulldogs 7-0 at Scotland Yard Tuesday night, giving the Highlanders a one-game lead for the No. 4-seed in the playoffs with one game to play.

“I think this was our most complete game of the year,” Highlander head coach Ron Eastman said. “The guys have been working so hard all year, and it finally came together, and it’s the right time of the year for us to start playing like this, so hopefully we can continue this on Friday against Kingwood.”

The Highlanders (11-13-1, 5-6) were tied with Summer Creek for fourth place in the District 16- 6A standings, and needed to win this game to open up the possibility of an advancement to the postseason.

The Highlanders started the game off one foot ahead of the bulldogs, scoring a run in the first half thanks to a run from Casey Stokes and a RBI from Dillon Kotsios. Stokes was able to complete a run from first base back to the home plate, thanks to Kotsios’ hit into the outfield.

Senior Ben Gooch continued the Highlander scoring streak in the third inning, running home off an RBI from Zach Gartner. The Woodlands came back again in the fifth inning, scoring two runs with help from Tommy Simutis and Casey Stokes and further demonstrating the collective team effort the Highlanders employed tonight. Simutis and Stokes took advantage of an opportunity to run home upon a bat from Matt Jennings, and were in the lead 4-0 going into the sixth inning.

Gartner of The Woodlands continued to demonstrate his excellent batting abilities, producing another RBI in the bottom of the sixth that was the catalyst for runs from Simutis and Kade Markle.

The Highlanders decided to score one more run before the game was brought to an ending, and Stokes of The Woodlands came back once again with a run for his team, this time off a hit from outfielder Ryan Tackett.

This brought the game to an end with a 7-0 score, with the Highlanders proving not only a strong offense, but a determined defense as well. This was the second game of district play that The Woodlands has held their opposition to a shutout. In their previous meeting earlier on in the district season, the Highlanders were defeated by Summer Creek 5-0. However, the boys came back tonight and proved that a previous record does not provide any security or guarantees.

“We wanted them to keep their heads up, play with a lot of pride tonight, and play to get into the playoffs. They knew this was the team we had to beat to get in, and the guys responded very well,” Eastman said.

The Highlanders will play their last game of the district season on Friday at Kingwood. The Mustangs are currently in sixth place with a 3-8 district record.