Cole Kaase knows there aren't any easy wins in District 19-6A.

The Katy junior had been off to a hot start on the mound this year and wanted to keep that going as the team opened district play against Mayde Creek.

Kaase overcame a shaky start on the mound as his hot start to the season continued in a 17-4 win for the Tigers over the Rams at the Mayde Creek baseball field on Tuesday, as Kaase threw four strong innings and Katy put up 15 runs in two innings to run rule Mayde Creek.

“It was a big win for us,” Kaase said. “It felt great to go out there first game of district and have a good performance. My team gave me a lot of runs and put us in a good position and it was just great to be able to go out there and start district the right way.”

Kaase gave up two runs on two hits over four innings while striking out five and walking four in the win, having problems with his control in one or two innings, but overcoming it to lead the Tigers to the win.

It was tight until the later innings and both Mayde Creek and Katy went scoreless in the first. But Katy struck first as they plated two in the top of the second off an error by Mayde Creek.

The Rams took the lead in the bottom of the third, as Brandon Lumpkins singled to start things and then was brought around to score on a walk and another Mayde Creek runner was walked to tie things before another run scored on a Isaac Soto but Katy was able to throw a runner out at the plate to limit the damage. But Katy came back with two runs of their own in the top of the fourth, as Reese Ruderman scored on an error and Parker Kidwell drove in a run on an RBI single to regain the lead.

“It’s good to see Kaase come back from giving up a couple runs and play well,” said Katy head coach Tom McPherson. “But we also expect our kids to play hard all the time, so it’s what we expected him to do. They’ve learned in the past that you have to respect everybody, especially in this district. You have to get after it because anyone in this district can beat you on any given day.”

Katy turned things up to another level in the top of the fourth, scoring six runs in the inning to break the game open and cemented things in the fifth, scoring nine runs in the inning before Andrew Hilton came on in relief in the bottom of the fifth to close things out for the Tigers, allowing one run but securing the Tigers win.

It was a special occurrence for both sides tonight as it was the first meeting between Katy and Mayde Creek with Will Handlin as head coach of the Rams.

Handlin, a Mayde Creek graduate, had spent the previous six years as an assistant coach on the Katy staff before returning to his alma mater to take over the program.

“It was special playing with a former coach like that,” McPherson said. “He’s doing a good job over there and they played us tough, they were about one pitch away from making us panic. But our kids picked things up, they got some good key hits and thankfully were able to get the win.”

Things will only get tougher for Katy in its second district game, as the Tigers will face Cinco Ranch, which comes off a 9-8 win over Summer Creek on Monday.

“We just have to keep ourselves ready and we need to get in the cages and make sure we are hitting better,” Kaase said. “Cinco is a good team and we have to make sure we bring our best just like with everyone in this district.”