Beckville Takes Down White Oak to Advance to State Tournament

LONGVIEW -- Ethan Harris was offended.

Harris, Beckville's starting pitcher, hit well all evening against White Oak. He had an RBI single in the first. Then an RBI double in the third. He reached base in the fourth via walk.

But White Oak still opted to throw to him in the sixth, intentionally walking catcher Ben Bridges before him to load the bases with two outs.

Harris made the Roughnecks pay.

He launched the ball to deep center, clearing the bases and earning himself a triple. It began a high-scoring inning that propelled the Bearcats to a 10-3 victory in Game 3 of the 3A Region II regional final series. It sent them to state.

"I took it as an insult," Harris said. "They walked him to get to me, so I wanted to make them pay for it."

Harris finished 3-for-3 at the plate, but his damage wasn't only on offense. He pitched five innings, holding White Oak (30-9) to four hits while he was on the mound.

Coach Jason Causey said the plan all along was for Harris to throw in the third game.

"In the course of a series, you've got to win two games," Causey said. "I pitched things a little bit differently last night and at the end of the day, a loss is a loss. I knew I had a really good guy coming today that was going to compete and give us a chance to win. I'm really proud of him."

Beckville (34-4), which only scored one run in the first two games of the series combined, got its bats going early. Trey Lindsay and Michael Mize reached base via walk to start off the first inning, and Harris' single between second and third brought in Lindsay for the first run.

Things really got going in the third when Harris again brought Lindsay in, this time off a double to deep left field. Ty Jones followed with a single to left field that brought in Bridges and Harris.

In all, the Bearcats came away with eight hits in six innings and scored six of their runs in the sixth. Clayton Burnett's two-RBI home run only added salt to the wound. It was the best hitting performance all series when they needed it most.

"We talked about approaches and making adjustments," Causey said. "I challenged them last night before we left and again this morning. Hats off to my guys. They did a great job of making the adjustments necessary."

White Oak made a run in the top of the sixth when Heath Hood hit a ball to deep center for a double that brought in Layton Anderson and Colby Siegly to make it a one run game. Hood also had a home run in the first at-bat of the game. After Hood's double, Jacob Young grounded out and Beckville wasted no time creating separation in the bottom of the inning.

Beckville will travel to Round Rock where it will play in the state semifinal at either 9 a.m. or noon Friday.

For now, the Bearcats will enjoy a victory against a district rival, which Harris said makes getting to state even sweeter.

"They're our rivals for sure," he said. "We've been pretty even all year and it's huge to take this big win and punch our ticket."