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. Cokinos homered in his first two bats, and Daniel Neumann and Jeremy Rathjen added home runs for the Mustangs, the defending District 19-5A champions.

“We have a lot of good bats in this lineup,” said Neumann, who followed Cokinos’ solo shot in the first with a two-run homer to straightaway center. “Most of the time we are (a line-drive, power-hitting team) but today we got some balls up in the air. I’ve played with these guys a long time. I know they’re all capable.”

Cokinos homered just to the left of straightaway center with two out, and after Michael Ratterree singled to left Neumann lifted a fastball about 385 feet to dead center for a 3-0 lead, his fourth home run of the season.

Rathjen snuck a two-run homer just over the right-field wall in the second to make it 5-0, and after DeMario Thibodeaux blooped a single to short right Cokinos went long again, this time about 360 feet past the scoreboard in left.

“We’ve been swinging the bats pretty well,” York said. “We’ve been doing a good job of when the pitcher gets behind in the count, taking advantage of that. The kids have bought into that and they’re looking for quality pitches to hit when they’re ahead in the count.”

The Mustangs, 25-8 a year ago, improved to 4-1 at the time. They weren't so lucky in their night game against Clear Creek, allowing 16 runs - and four home runs - in the first inning against the Wildcats en route to a 23-3 loss.

But against Pearland, Memorial starter Michael Bentz was effective if not overpowering. He struck out four, walked three and hit a batter. The only damage was a fourth-inning home run by Drew DeKerlegand.

“Michael did a great job. He worked in and out and did an excellent job,” York said. “Then Steven (Murray) came in there at the end (striking out the last two batters) and did what we like him to do, and that’s close the door on them.”

Rathjen added a two-run double down the left-field line in the fifth for a 10-1 lead.

Memorial plays Clear Lake on Friday and Clear Brook on Saturday. The winners of each pool advance to the championship game Saturday afternoon.

Pearland, which fell to 3-4, has games Friday against La Porte and Lewisville Hebron at Clear Brook.

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