GAMES
RANKINGS
BREAKING: Bay Area Christian baseball wins Back-to-Back TAPPS Division III State Championships
HOUSTON - It took 48 years for Bay Area Christian to win its first boys team State Championship. It took the Broncos just 12 more months to add a second.
The Bay Area Christian Broncos (28-13) defeated Lake Country Christian 5-3 on Friday afternoon at the University of Texas-Arlington inside Clay Gould Ballpark to capture the program's second-straight State Championship. BACS has now won TAPPS Division III State Championships in 2021 and 2022.
"It is special the fact that we can be No. 1 in the state the entire year coming off a State Championship," BACS baseball coach Kyle Kennedy said. "Everybody is out to beat you. Our guys rose to the occasion, and we were able to win it again. Hats off to them for all that they did. It was a special season."
Adam Atwell was named the player of the game. He finished pitching 5 1/3 innings giving up one run. Atwell hit 3-for-3, one walk, scored a run in the State Championship game for the Broncos. Baylor-signee Jordan Medellin closed out the game for the Broncos on the mound.
There was drama as Lake Country Christian loaded the bases with one out and scored a run on a groundout to cut the lead down to two. With runners at the corners and two outs, Medellin was able induce a groundout to Atwell, who stepped on second base and end the game.
"Amazing, the best way to end our high school careers," Bay Area Christian senior Josh Flory said. "Couldn’t have asked for a better team to do it with. I felt this would happen right after we won last year."
The BACS roster carried a total of 10 seniors on it in 2022.
It was a class that was supposed to graduate at 7:30 p.m. on Friday night, but with them advancing to the State Tournament and playing for the State Championship, they will graduate a day later. Now, they will walk the stage with two gold medals.
"For these seniors that helped build this place, I think for us to have sustainability for what we want to do in our program at Bay Area Christian these guys have helped," Kennedy said. "Not just help us go forward and win championships, it helps excel our program to make it a viable program here in League City for really good baseball to be played. Guys being able to go play DI, DII level in college, we're able to do that now.
"It's because of this group that has really helped sustain the program to where we are a viable option for baseball in the Houston-area."
The Broncos defeated Northland Christian 7-5 in the State Semifinal on Thursday night to advance to the State Championships.
This story will continue to be updated.
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