Justin Cudd may be a sophomore, but he’s pitching like a senior right now. Cudd gave up three hits in 6 1/3 innings and had a RBI double to help Katy take Game 1 of its Region III-5A area round playoff series against Bellaire, 2-0 Friday night at Roy Knoblauch Field.

        Daniel Gonzales made a quick turnaround from struggling reliever to hero in one inning. After loading the bases to help Langham Creek to tie the game, Gonzales hit a walkoff home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to give Lamar a 8-7 win in the first game of their Region III-5A area round playoff series Thursday night at Roy Knoblach Field.

          With two triples hit and three runs scored in the first inning alone, Thursday night's area-round matchup between Memorial and Cypress Creek was on track to be a great game.

           Primarily a singles hitter in this, his freshman year, Westside’s Daniel Mengden couldn’t immediately tell if his mammoth blast to begin the seventh inning Thursday night was a home run. Virtually everyone else watching the Wolves’ area-round game against Cy-Fair at Jersey Village knew it was. Mengden slammed the first pitch of the seventh off Cy-Fair’s Austin Coble well over the left-field wall, giving the Wolves a 1-0 victory in Game 1 of their series against the defending state champions. “He gave me my favorite pitch, a ball high and in, but I was just trying to get on with a hit or a walk and start something,” said Mengden, who had one home run entering Thursday.

   On Monday night at Manvel High School, Elkins won an extra-inning game to advance in the Region III-5A playoffs. Not bad for one inning's work. Drew Vest’s RBI single with the bases loaded and two out was the game-winner for the Knights in a 7-6 win over Pearland in the third game of a Region III-5A bi-district series that was suspended from over the weekend.

  A one-game playoff between neighbors and rivals Katy Taylor and Cinco Ranch highlights the weekend schedule of softball regional quarterfinals and baseball area-round playoff games.   The Mustangs and Cougars softball teams will play at 7:30 p.m.

    “It’s contagious,” Memorial baseball coach Jeremy York said.

     (Game 2 + Interviews)     (Game 1)  Langham Creek has made a habit of coming from behind in several games this year.

  Lamar scored eight runs in the fourth inning to get a 11-0 win over MacArthur in five innings Friday night at Jersey Village to take the first game of the best-two-of-three Region III-5A bi-district series.

          Taylor Wall said he didn’t have his best stuff Friday, but it was good enough. The senior pitcher gave up three hits and struck out seven as the Westside Wolves beat Spring Woods 11-0 in five innings Friday afternoon at Jersey Village to advance to the area round of the Region III-5A playoffs. Westside (23-2) had 12 hits in four innings and made a statement that the Wolves are a contender in a deep playoff field. “This is the first time in a while that I felt we competed at the plate,” Westside coach Emrick Jagneaux said.

  Another year, another head-scratcher of predicting the Region III-5A baseball playoffs. This is another year where as we enter the playoffs, there is no clear-cut favorite in Region III.

 {mp3}080429-Pairings{/mp3}   Rocky Manuel always has believed there’s safety in numbers. Like many of his peers, Bellaire’s longtime baseball coach is a fervent believer in playing best-of-three series throughout the postseason.

  The first time Mike McCollum watched the Cypress Creek baseball team play a summer league game in 2007, their new coach knew a reconstruction project awaited. Coming off a season in which the Cougars went winless in District 17-5A, “I noticed there was no team play at all,” McCollum said.

          Cy-Fair baseball coach Woody Champagne got his 500th career win Tuesday when the Bobcats routed Strake Jesuit 10-0 in five innings in a District 17-5A game.

      Memorial hit two home runs in the first inning Tuesday night and cruised to an 11-3 victory at Stratford in a District 19-5A baseball game. Daniel Neumann hit two home runs for the district champion Mustangs, who led 4-0 after a half-inning.

      Barely four batters in Saturday, the feeling of an oncoming rout was palpable.   Without taking more than a handful of pitches, the Episcopal baseball team had smacked two singles and a rope of a two-run home run to the inviting left-field corner against Austin St.

{mosimage} The Katy baseball team had a pretty good idea what to expect from junior ace Keifer Nuncio this year. But part of what’s keeping the Tigers atop District 18-5A is a side of Nuncio’s game few expected. Nuncio is 5-2 on the mound with a 1.27 ERA, but his hitting is rounding into form at an opportune time.

        Visiting Houston Christian scored three runs in the first inning and had four home runs on the day to rout St.

      Not that the Cypress Creek baseball team lights up scoreboards on a regular basis anyway, but the Cougars knew they probably wouldn’t Saturday. That ended up fine with them. Playing their third game in five days, the Cougars’ impressive turnaround continued at Strake Jesuit, where four sacrifices and five Crusaders errors helped pave the way for a solid if unspectacular 7-3 win in a District 17-5A game. One year after going winless in the district, Cy Creek improved to 15-9 overall and 9-4 in 17-5A, good for a tie for second place.

  Exuding confidence on and off the mound Wednesday night, Neal Dennison said the Lamar baseball team doesn’t rank its pitchers in a No.

    No matter its fate involving the postseason, the Spring Woods baseball team will look back at games like Tuesday and be thankful they gutted out a close victory. That’s been a familiar theme all year for the Tigers, who edged visiting Eisenhower 3-2 in eight innings in a District 19-5A game. The win kept the Tigers (9-9 overall, 6-3 district) firmly in the top four in the district, which currently has four teams vying for the second, third and fourth playoff spots behind first-place Memorial. Andrew Olson pitched seven solid innings and allowed only four hits, then got the game-winning single with two outs in the eighth. “We’ve been battling all year like this,” Spring Woods coach Brian Keefe said.

            The Lamar baseball team has been in a groove recently, winning 11 games in a row.

        The Pearland baseball team scored big in the first inning and continued to score throughout the game to top host St.

          On a beautiful Saturday afternoon, Mayde Creek hosted Seven Lakes in a non-district game.

       Kyle Guest admitted he was in a slump entering the eighth inning Friday night, but Memorial’s senior first baseman quickly noted it wasn’t much older than a day. Like the rest of the Mustangs, Guest found his mouth watering when Stratford removed starting pitcher Kevin Hahn in a one-run game.

            Consistency is something that every coach at every level of sports wants for his team.

          The Cy-Fair baseball team lived up to its own expectations Tuesday night, routing visiting Jersey Village 10-0 in five innings of a District 17-5A baseball game.

      The Langham Creek Lobos (15-3) defeated the Cypress Woods Wildcats (11-6) 9-8 on a game-winning base hit by Max Jenkins that brought Austin Freitas in to score in a District 17-5A baseball game Saturday afternoon.

         Many baseball coaches get excited when their teams can set the tone of a game early with first-inning runs.

{mp3}080320KatyBB{/mp3}      Prior to Thursday afternoon’s District 18-5A baseball game between Katy and Morton Ranch, a Mavericks fan observed that the visiting Tigers likely were the favorites – mostly because they are defending district champions and despite Morton Ranch’s perfect district record. The Mavericks fan to whom that was directed took slight exception. Two hours later, there was little doubt which team proved it belonged atop the district. Randy Picard clubbed a grand slam and a three-run home run in back-to-back at-bats in the middle innings, leading Katy to a 13-0 victory in five innings. Katy amassed 14 hits against three Morton Ranch pitchers, sending the Mavericks to their first 18-5A loss (8-8, 3-1) and improving the Tigers to 12-5 overall and 3-1 in the district. It was something of a statement game for Katy, which lost to Katy Taylor last Friday.

      Five innings was all it took for the Memorial baseball team to add another check mark to its win column.   The Mustangs (11-2-1) beat Northbrook 10-0, by way of run-rule, Wednesday night at Northbrook in a District 19-5A game.

          Monday’s steady wind was a major player on St.

        The Bellaire baseball team has built its storied tradition mostly via power baseball, riding it to seven state championships and one national title. But in the wake of the 2007 team that hit 36 home runs, this year’s Cardinals have only seven.

      It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon for baseball as St.

              In a post-game interview with MacArthur baseball coach Ernest Gonzales, his opening quote was short, but to the point. “We have been in positions to win some games, but we just have not got that big, clutch hit, ” he said. That was until the Generals’ District 19-5A night matchup against Stratford Friday night.   In the end, it was Isaac Medina’s RBI double in the seventh inning that proved to be the difference in a 7-6 win over the Spartans. “We made some adjustments and work on them, but the kids came out today and got some clutch hits.

    It was obvious that Stratford pitcher Kevin Hahn decided to take his game play to another level for district competition.

    Stratford’s Carson Brown, Andrew Mitchell, Will Gould, and Kevin Hahn all blasted home runs en route to a 22-4 victory over Fort Bend Marshall Thursday afternoon at the Ewell Jackson baseball tournament at Dulles High School.

      LEAGUE CITY – Memorial baseball coach Jeremy York first describes his team as a line-drive, ground-ball hitting club. “I’m sure the kids would like to say different,” he admitted. So far this season, the Mustangs couldn’t be blamed if they do. Memorial cracked four home runs in the first two innings Thursday against Pearland in the Clear Creek ISD Varsity Baseball Tournament, cruising past the Oilers 11-1 in five innings at Clear Creek. Catcher M.P.

  The 2007 state champion Cy-Fair baseball team is starting 2008 on the right foot.    The Bobcats defeated Westbury on Saturday night with a final score of 6-4.   Because of inclement weather earlier in the week, the game had to be pushed back to 7:30pm instead of 2:30pm.    In his 29th year of coaching, Coach Woody Champagne is coming back for a repeat of the 2007 state championship season saying “we’d definitely like to get back this year.”   They are off to a great start, the Bobcats were on top the entire game scoring two runs in the first three innings.   Among the players who scored were Zack Thomas, Tommy Collier, and Jordan Harris just to name a few.

      The annual Houston Baseball Dinner is highlighted by the Astros distributing various franchise awards. But for one night, it seemed like the Cy-Fair baseball team could claim as many honorees as the pros. On the heels of winning the 5A state championship in 2007, two Bobcats were named to the All-Greater Houston Area Preseason High School Team and coach Woody Champagne received the Ray Knoblauch Award for area Coach of the Year Thursday night. "We have some good players in the Cy-Fair district," said Bobcats centerfielder Robbie Grossman, a Texas commitment.

  Memorial’s Jeremy Rathjen signed a letter of intent to play baseball for the Rice Owls Thursday morning.  His parents, Jan Miller and Craig Rathjen, Memorial head baseball coach Jeremy York, and a host of other supporters were present for the event at Memorial High School.    Rathjen, a centerfielder for the Mustangs, chose Rice over a number of other Division I programs, including Texas, Miami, LSU and Texas A&M.    The Owls are led by head coach Wayne Graham, who has coached a number of local players who have gone on to have very successful professional careers, including Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte, who played under Graham at San Jacinto Junior College, and Lance Berkman, whom Graham coached from 1995-1997 at Rice.    Rice has become one of the nation’s premier college baseball programs during Graham’s 15-year tenure.  They are the winners of 12 straight conference titles and have advanced to the College World Series for the past two years.  The Owls won the CWS, Rice's first national championship in any sport, in 2003.  Rathjen says the combination of Rice's prowess on the baseball diamond and the university's proximity to home helped him make his decision.

     The Houston TASO (Texas Association of Sports Officials) had its Championship game Saturday morning at Houston’s Minute Maid Park featuring the baseball teams from Bellaire and Lamar.

  While NAIA baseball is oft written off by scouts and fans alike, I have an inkling Houston Baptist University is one school you might want to pencil in on your calendar to take note of next year.

As we enter the dog days of summer (pardon the unintended and wildly inappropriate pun) there are a few things we can do to defeat the sweltering weather. Aside from taking a dip in the refreshing bathwater us Houstonians like to call a swimming a pool or trying to find that old snow cone stand that once hypnotized our taste buds with like 873 dazzling flavors, I have a proposal.

It is sadder than it is anything else. It is sadder than it is disappointing, maddening, disheartening, or any other emotionally-laced adjective you want to use. Barry Bonds sits on the doorstep of history, but there’s nobody inside to throw him a party.

During the 1990's Craig Biggio redefined baseball for the city of Houston. His stellar play and versatility coupled with a few other killer B's brought hope to the Astros.

  The argument has always been that there's more bounce in California or more splash made in Florida. Nevertheless Texas, and specifically the Houston area, is holding its own when it comes to sending high school players to the Big Leagues.

  College baseball, like it’s professional counterpart, is a game full of mystique, legend, and lore.  From the first “ping” of the bats in February to the hallowed grounds of Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, where the nation’s top eight teams battle it out in the College World Series each June, the sport has quirks, traditions, and rituals that you won’t find in the more popular collegiate sports of football and basketball.

          Hohlt Fields in Brenham, TX hosted the annual ABC Summer Classic this past weekend to bring together some top talented baseball teams from around the state.

      Greater Houston’s top juniors gathered at Rice University’s Reckling Park for the Houston Area Baseball Coaches Association Junior All-Star game Wednesday night.