Baseball moves on to round 3

The Varsity baseball team played against Liberty-Eylau on Wednesday May 1 for their first playoff game. Chase Hampton started for the Bulldogs went 6 ⅓  innings striking out 9, walking 2, and holding the Leopards to 2 runs on 3 hits.

“The team has done really good this season, and played solid fundamental baseball,” sophomore Kyle Wheeler said.

In the early stages of the game the Bulldogs were held to no runs through five innings, until Gus Witt came up for the first at bat of the sixth and blasted a solo home-run to cut the lead in half. Brayden Johnson came on and got the Bulldogs out of the inning striking out Riles. Johnson went ⅔  of an inning allowing two hits, and striking out 1.

“We thought we would get out of the game sooner. We thought we’d be able to run rule them early but things don’t always go as planned,” junior Brayden Johnson said.

The next inning Cade Pippen was walked on four straight pitches and Anthony Smith came in to run for him. Donovan Adkins came up and drove in Smith with a double. The game ended on a Ervin nicknamed “Deuce” single to score Adkins from second base.

“We were all nervous and when Chase struck out it just got worse, I personally wanted to throw up, I had a sick feeling in my stomach,” Johnson said.

The Bulldogs played game 2 against the Leopards on Friday, May 3. The Bulldogs fell behind during the game but found another way to come back. The Dogs scored first on a balk, but fell behind 4-1 by the third. The Leopards held onto the lead until the seventh inning when everything fell apart for Liberty with Kilgore coming back to win 5-4. The Bulldogs moved on to round 2. The Bulldogs played against Wills Point May 10 and 11 and won both games to sweep the series, and move onto round 3.

Kilgore won the first game 8-1, and won the next game 8- 7 with Gus Witt winning the game with a walk-off single to score A.J Smith. The Bulldogs fell behind in game 2, but did what they have done the entire playoffs, came back.

“This year is going good for us as a program we have blown out half of the teams we have played, and I believe that we are going to win the these next few games and bring back a state championship to Kilgore,” senior Gus Witt said.

Kilgore Diamond Dogs are currently District, Bi-District, Area Champs.

“This isn’t just about one player it’s about a team, and over the course of the season it has come down to different players making big plays, and they all feed off of each other,” Coach Joey Pippen said.

This team is special because they come up with a saying “Brothers.”

“They say it every time we break the huddle. And they truly get along like brothers– ‘they have each others back’ and that makes it unique,” Pippen said.

Baseball will be playing May 16 and today against Pleasant Grove in the Regional Quarterfinals at ETBU Woods Field in Marshall.