HS Baseball: The Woodlands takes down Oak Ridge on the road

OAK RIDGE, TX -- Things were even to begin Tuesday night’s district opener, but as the game went on, The Woodlands grew stronger and defeated the War Eagles 8-1. Highlander starting pitcher Cam Caley earned the win with a four-inning performance, striking out 11, and only giving up one hit and one earned run.

In the top of the first, The Woodlands had Oak Ridge in early trouble. The bases were loaded with just one out and the Highlanders were poised to break the game open from the jump. However, the combination of good pitching by Colby Cooke and fielding by the War Eagles managed to hold the Highlanders to just a single run. Oak Ridge’s first baseman Lance Hicks doubled to bring in a run and tied the game at one after one inning.

The Woodlands’ DH Josh Ekness ignited the beginning of the Highlander’s road takeover with a two-run homer over the right-field wall in the third inning. That lead would carry over into the fifth where the Highlanders put the game away for good. Drew Romo singled into left field to bring Will Thomas across the plate. An error on that play also brought Caley across the plate to make their lead 5-1. Ekness nearly cleared the bases again with another deep shot into right field, but it resulted in a sacrifice fly to bring Noah McCarren across for another run. Matt Bulovas RBI single was the last of the scoring barrage in the fifth. Cam Caley hit a solo HR in the sixth to wrap up the scoring for the night.

Along with being the winning pitcher, Caley added two hits from the plate. Cody Howard pitched the final three innings and struck out three batters. Mattew Bulovas led the Highlanders at the plate with three hits in four at-bats and two RBIs.

The Woodlands (5-0, 1-0) and Oak Ridge (5-2, 0-1) will both head into tournament games to end the week.