BREAKING: Second Baptist School wins TAPPS Division II Baseball State Championship
HOUSTON - Second Baptist School is once again at the top of the mountain of TAPPS Division II Baseball.
The Eagles captured the program's sixth State Championship on Thursday afternoon with an 11-5 victory over The Brook Hill School at the University of Texas-Arlington. It is the first title for Second Baptist School since the 2016 season.
“I think it was just a culmination of just a great season,” Second Baptist School coach Rayner Noble said. “These guys are obviously very talented but also very physically and mentally tough. We showed it at the State Tournament. We had some adversity and overcame it. Just really proud of the way we battled.”
CHAMPIONSHIP CLINCHED ⚾️: @SBS_Athletics wins program’s 6th State Title. Here is the final play & celebration! #vypecampus (🎥: @chandace_tryon) @KPRC2RandyMc @robertreidryan @turnermurdock5 @jdcrisp_sports @leighton_reddy @Dr_ChrisHobbs @mawalker_SBAD @LukePettitte @TyBaker44 pic.twitter.com/T6MsH0ghlV
— VYPE Houston (@vypehouston) May 19, 2022
Second Baptist School (24-6) cashed in on an eight-run fourth inning to blow the game wide open, coming back from an early 3-0 deficit.
“I think the big thing was that inning we really made their pitcher work,” Noble said of the big inning. “We were fouling off pitches, we had four or five eight-pitch at-bats and drove his pitch count up. We were also productive, got hits and drove in big runs. That was just the backbone of how we rolled all season.”
The Eagles expanded the lead in the seventh off an RBI triple from JD Crisp ('24) and a sacrifice fly by Leighton Reddy ('22), scoring two runs.
Luke Pettitte ('23) was named the Player of the Game after going 2-for-5 with two doubles and driving in a pair of runs that put Second Baptist School up for good.
"Obviously this was the goal all year long," Pettitte said. "We knew it was going to be a grind getting through LSA. We were confident going into this game, we had a little bit of a rough patch in the first inning, but this was our goal and we finally came through with it."
The TAPPS State All-Tournament team was announced, which included Turner Murdock ('24), Elijah Marrero ('22), Noah Weisser ('22) and Pettitte.
“It’s just a testament to everyone’s hard work,” Murdock said. “Everyone worked their tails off all year to get to this point. To win it is a huge accomplishment.”
This makes it back-to-back years that Second Baptist School has won team State Championships in the spring, joining the 2021 Eagles' softball team, which won the TAPPS Division II State Championship a year ago.
Noble this past year was inducted into the University of Houston Athletics Hall of Honor. His staff includes Terry Pirtle, Andy Pettitte and Stephen Burris.
Varsity Baseball:
STATE CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE #SBSeagles put up an EIGHT spot in the top of 4th…
8-3 with @brookhillguard batting @vypehouston @LSCSN @TXPSPodcast @PBR_Texas pic.twitter.com/ruE55KpOiL
— SecondBaptistSchoolAthletics (@SBS_Athletics) May 19, 2022
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