Whitehouse Enters First-Ever State Tournament Appearance Riding 12-Game Winning Streak

Class 4A

State Semifinal

Whitehouse Wildcats (31-8)

vs.

Corpus Christi Moody Trojans (32-6-1)

7 p.m. Thursday (June 6), Round Rock's Dell Diamond

How they got here

Whitehouse

Bi-District: def. Red Oak 2-0 in series (W 9-2, W 11-5)
Area: def. Sulphur Springs 2-0 in series (W 7-5, W 8-3)
Region II quarterfinals: def. Hallsville 2-0 in series (W 7-6, W 8-3)
Region II semifinals: def. Prosper 2-0 in series (W 10-3, W 8-7)
Region II finals: def. Frisco Liberty 2-0 in series (W 6-0, W 6-1)

Corpus Christi Moody

Bi-District: def. Roma 2-0 in series (W 13-0, W 9-0)
Area: def. Victoria East 2-0 in series (W 7-0, W 6-3)
Region IV quarterfinals: def. Rio Grande City 2-0 in series (W 8-0, W 8-2)
Region IV semifinals: def. Buda Hays 6-1 in one-game playoff
Region IV finals: def. San Antonio Alamo Heights 2-1 in series (L 3-2, W 9-2, W 5-2)

Top hitters

Whitehouse

Aaron Clemons, Sr., DH/OF (.405, 52 RBI, 9 2B, 27 R)
Patrick Mahomes, Jr., SS/P (.378, 30 RBI, 12 2B, 48 R, 28 SB)
Derek Clemons, Sr., C (.357, 2 HR, 43 RBI, 9 2B, 34 R)
Jared Raabe, Sr., LF/P (.330, 25 RBI, 7 2B, 42 R, 24 SB)
Ryan Cheatham, Jr., 3B/P (.324, 24 RBI, 13 2B, 29 R)

Corpus Christi Moody

Aaron Hernandez, Jr., 2B/C (.442, 27 RBI)
John David Garcia, Sr., CF/UTL (.478, 16 RBI, 7 2B, 2 3B, 51 R, 20 SB)
Kenny Saenz, Jr., P/1B (.412, 4 HR, 37 RBI, 16 2B, 3 3B, 20 R)
Michael Cantu, Jr., C/P (.388, 4 HR, 38 RBI, 9 2B)
Chris Estrada, Jr., SS/P (.376, 22 RBI, 29 R)

Top pitchers

Whitehouse

Patrick Mahomes, Jr. (9-1, 2.22 ERA, 111 K, 79.0 IP)
Ryan Cheatham, Jr. (13-0, 2.76 ERA, 92 K, 88.2 IP)

Corpus Christi Moody

Michael Cantu, Jr. (12-0, 1.39 ERA, 87 K, 70.2 IP)
Kenny Saenz, Jr. (14-2, 0.80 ERA, 164 K, 96.0 IP)

Coachspeak

Whitehouse coach Derrick Jenkins on the keys to his team's undefeated run through the playoffs: "Not quitting. We've fallen behind a few teams, but we swing the bats and we have two guys on the mound the kids have confidence in. That makes it pretty easy right there. And we play pretty good defense, which makes it hard for other teams to do what they want."
Jenkins on his team's 14 one-run games this season: "That's because of how we kinda set up the schedule and how we've set up our pitchers and things like that. It's been the hardest schedule I've seen since I've been in coaching where every game we're playing someone who we feel like can beat us. We were down to Forney 5-0 in the first inning earlier in the year and came back to win 10-5. And we've done that all year."
Jenkins on the Wildcats' ability to overcome good opposing pitching: "High school-wide, it's hard when you have to see good hitters 1 through 9. Right now, my No. 3 hole hitter can 0-for-3 and we'll still score six runs. Everybody has faith in somebody carrying us if they don't."
Jenkins on how 2012's season-ending loss to eventual state champion Rockwall-Heath factored into this year: "We looked at everything Heath did last year when we played in the fourth round of the playoffs and we used that to get ready for this year. We looked at what made them a little bit better than we were every day. I think Heath has more to do with where we're at right now than anything."
Jenkins on Whitehouse facing 12-time state tournament participant Corpus Christi Moody in the semifinals: "We hear Moody's done this and Moody's down that, and that's what our kids want. We're OK with kinda being the underdog again. For a while now, we've been the team that everyone's kinda expected to win. But I think the kids will like the underdog role and will show up ready to show everyone who they are."
Jenkins on what he expects from Moody on Thursday night: "They've got a couple good pitchers that throw the ball real well. Fundamentally, they do everything a high school baseball is supposed to do. Anyone at the state tournament is going to be good, but it will come down to who makes the fewest mistakes, cuts off the big inning and gets away from being awe-struck."

Did you know?

Whitehouse has won 12 straight games. Of the 20 teams that qualified for the state tournament in all classifications, the Wildcats are one of just three teams without a loss in this year's playoffs and the only one in 4A.
Seven of Whitehouse's eight losses have been by one run. The Wildcats' record in one-run games this year is 7-7.
Whitehouse coach Derrick Jenkins led White Oak to the 2A state tournament in 2009 and 2010.
The last 4A team from East Texas that reached the state tournament was Texas High, which won the state title in 2009.
Corpus Christi Moody has just five seniors on its roster. Its top two pitchers -- Michael Cantu and Kenny Saenz -- are both juniors.
This is the 12th appearance at the state tournament for the Trojans, and the seventh since 2000.