High School Baseball

Katy sweeps Cy-Fair, advances to regional quarterfinals

By Tyler Tyre, Sports Editor
Posted 5/13/23

“It was huge for us to get those runs,” Hull said. “We wanted to make sure it was comfortable for our pitchers and we were able to string a few together offensively. It was big to just add a couple more on and help ourselves out.”

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in
High School Baseball

Katy sweeps Cy-Fair, advances to regional quarterfinals

Posted

Katy is hitting their stride right when they need to.

The Tigers bats have been strong through the first two weeks of the postseason and the teams offense has been surging.

That led the Tigers to a sweep in the bi-district round, and then Katy went and did it again in round two, topping Cy-Fair in two games and sealing the sweep with a 7-3 win on Friday night.

“We’re swinging the bats really well right now,” said Katy head coach Wes Hearne. “The guy they threw today was really good, is a tough guy to face, but our guys grinded. We stayed with it, made adjustments and were able to find a way to get the hits and runs we needed.”

Katy found ways to win the whole night, both at the plate and on the mound. Cole Kaase got out of jams multiple times on the mound but still put together a good outing, allowing one run over 3.1 innings, striking out one and walking six in the win, while Kty’s relief pitchers did a good job coming in to close things out.

“For Cole to go out there, compete and keep us in it like he did was huge,” Hearne said. “Even without his best stuff, he didn’t pout on the mound or complain, he went and executed the next pitch. He kept us in the game long enough for us to start scoring some runs.”

Kaase got out of jam with a runner in scoring position in the first inning and again pitched a scoreless second. Katy got on the board in the third, taking the lead when AJ Atkinson was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

Cy-Fair again got runners in scoring position in the third, but Kaase picked off a runner at second and then got out of the inning with a groundout. Katy’s offense started coming alive after that, as Katy got two runs in the fourth on passed balls and Reese Ruderman added another with a single in the inning to increase Katy’s lead to 4-0.

Cy-Fair got one run back in the fourth, Aaron Brashear came on in relief, pitching the next two innings and allowing just one earned run in the sixth that made things a one run game, but Katy’s bullpen stepped up again, as Connor Udland came in and got Katy out of the inning when he induced a double play.

Katy then added some insurance runs in the top of the seventh, with Sutton Hull driving in two and Cole Kaase driving in another.

“It was huge for us to get those runs,” Hull said. “We wanted to make sure it was comfortable for our pitchers and we were able to string a few together offensively. It was big to just add a couple more on and help ourselves out.”

Lucas Moore came in in the bottom of the seventh and shut the door on Cy-Fair, striking out a batter before ending the game by inducing a fly out.

“That’s the Lucas Moore that I know,” Hearne said. “He had been trying to get back to being himself, but tonight he went out there and he from that first pitch said ‘I’m going to lock this down.’ He actually asked me in the dugout when he was going in because he wanted to be in that spot and he wanted to shut it down. He came out and pitched extremely well.”

The Tigers advance to the regional quarterfinal round where they will face Tompkins in an all Katy ISD third round matchup. Katy lost two hard fought games to the Falcosn early in the season but they’re ready for the challenge of facing them again.

“It’s exciting, but the most important thing for us is we can’t overhype this,” Hull said. “It’s not about playing Tompkins, it’s about playing our game. That’s what we have to do at the end of the day is, it’s baseball, it’s fun, it’s going to be a really electric atmosphere but we just have to keep our cool and play our kind of baseball.”

Katy, Cy-Fair, baseball, sports, Katy ISD, playoffs