HS Baseball Playoffs: Ferocious Battles See Conroe Scrap With Aldine Ahead of Final Game

SPRING, TX -- Tough battles against the Aldine Mustangs saw the Conroe Tigers split their Saturday games with a loss and a win to push the series to a winner-take-all game three on Monday.

The opening game of the series had gotten underway on Thursday, but was forced to delay due to incliment weather that persisted through Friday.

With the weather forcing the partially completed game to finish under a Saturday afternoon sun, the Tigers took to the diamond already down 5-0. Fortunately, Conroe was due to bat with the knowledge of tendencies and shifts in their mind.

Conroe’s added time to adjust, in addition to a renewed fire in the team’s spirit, led to an opening surge ot the resumed game. A disastrous string of walks brought in the first Tiger runner before a two-run RBI and an RBI triple cut the Mustang lead down to just one.

However, the sudden Tiger surge was put out just as quickly as it had emerged due to runners struggling against the strong arms of the Mustang fielders and Aldine’s unreadable pitching.

The lethal combination of defensive traits gave the Mustangs a tight margin to keep alive. But a sacrifice grounder to third forced Conroe’s hand by giving up a run that became the difference maker in the tight contest.

Aldine’s late insurance run sealed the game in a 6-4 Mustang win, but the second game of the doubleheader allowed Conroe to turn their fortunes around in a single day.

For those in attendance at Grand Oaks High School, game two turned into a brutal contest of attrition where the first team to crack would lose the game, or in Conroe’s case, the series.

In an exclusive interview with The Woodlands Online Sports, Conroe Head Coach Jeff Raymer discussed the importance of overcoming the losses in the postseason series.

“What you try to get the kids to understand is, in a playoff series, there are going to be ups and downs,” said Raymer. “When those ups and downs happen, you can’t let them surprise you. Aldine did it to us in the first game, but we couldn’t let ourselves stay down.”

Luckily for Conroe, the team struck first in the top of the first inning following some sly base running from Jackson Reagan. His combination of hitting and steals led to a 1-0 lead for the Tigers in just the first frame of action.

In response to Conroe’s lead, the Mustangs found their swings in the bottom of the third to finally get some runs on the board. The top of the Aldine lineup rode successive hits to bring runners into scoring position before an Orlando Reyes RBI brought in two runs.

The sudden shift of momentum gave Aldine a 2-0 lead, turning the game into an intense affair over the thin margin of another Mustang lead.

Both teams mounted stout defensive showings that had players expending the rest of their fuel to make increasingly impressive plays. Dives for pop-ups and sprinting after foul balls became the standard showing of effort as the game dragged into the seventh inning.

“Aldine’s very good. They’re competitive on the mound and at the plate. There’s not an easy out in their lineup,” said Raymer. “So we knew coming in that this was going to be a really tough series against a good team.”

With three outs to tie, take the lead, or lose, the Tigers had to trust the heart of their lineup to get the job done against the solid Aldine defense.

Timely hitting and wise pinch-hitting from Conroe got the team its much-needed run in the top of the seventh when Sam Buzbee rounded the bases to deliver the 2-2 tie. The sacrifice plays from his teammates were increasingly intense, but eh disciplined Tigers were rewarded with extra innings and a chance to force game three.

A scoreless eighth and ninth inning saw the restless crowd cry for a game-clinching run for their squad, and the Tiger fans were the ones who had their pleas granted.

The strongest hitting display from either team saw Conroe reach base with Reagan and not look back on their way to mounting two runs in the top of the tenth. Buzbee got to play hero by bringing Reagan in for the first run, while Landon Burns stepped up to usher Gavin Stanger in to score for a 4-2 Conroe lead.

Now it was Aldine’s turn to attempt a late comeback, but time had run out for the Mustangs.

A lead-off single looked promising, but a follow-up double play completely erased the productivity while inching Conroe closer to a win. A final fly-out to right field earned a loud cheer from the Tiger supporters at their completion of a late 4-2 comeback win.

“I’m really proud of the guys, because we sat through multiple delays yesterday driving them through rain and back,” said Raymer. “And to get a win like that in the seventh is a huge situation, but it shows our perseverance.”

Game three will be held at 11:00 A.M. at Grand Oaks High School on Monday, with a chance for Conroe to earn its first Bi-District title in nearly two decades.