The Comeback Kids of Kennard And Douglass Keep Title Hopes Alive

And Then There Were Two

In the quest for a state championship baseball title, two teams from Deep East Texas remain. The Douglass Indians in Class 2A, and the Kennard Tigers in Class 1A.

Both teams are no strangers to making deep runs in the playoffs. The Kennard Tigers are making their third straight appearance in the UIL State Tournament at Dell Diamond in Round Rock. Douglass brought home a state championship title in 2014.

Kennard Tigers

The Tigers recently captured their 3rd straight Class 1A Regional Championship when they won a best-of-three series against Leverett's Chapel, but it wasn't easy.

After dropping the first game of the series, Kennard won game two by the score of 13-10 and then took the third and deciding game, 7-3.

The Tigers will be playing a State Semifinal Game on Wednesday, June 7 at either 9 a.m. or 12 noon at Dell Diamond in Round Rock. Nazareth and Abbott have also punched their tickets for the State Tourney. Fayetteville is taking on D'Hanis for the fourth and final spot.

Douglass Indians

Douglass will be playing Harleton for the Class 2A, Region 3 Championship. The winner of that series will be advancing to the State Tournament in Round Rock.

In their Regional Semifinal matchup with Beckville, the Indians dropped the first game to the Bearcats in a lopsided loss. But, Douglass was able to eke out a close victory in the second game of the series. In the rubber game, the Indians did their best to test the blood pressure of their fans by scoring three runs in the final inning to take the one-run victory.

Douglass vs Harleton Preview

The best-of-3 series with the Harleton Wildcats is scheduled to start Thursday, June 1 at 7 p.m. The second game will take place on Friday, June 2 at 5 p.m., with a third game (if necessary) to start following game 2.  All games will take place at Mike Carter Field in Tyler.

If awards were given in high school baseball for the biggest season-to-season turnarounds, Harleton would get it. The Wildcats had a losing record in 2022 and didn't make the playoffs. This year, they have played 30 games and won 29 of them. Their only loss came in a playoff game against Garrison. Harleton is averaging 10 runs a game while surrendering about 1 run a game.

But, That's Why The Game Isn't Played on Paper

Three of the top five teams in the State Class 2A Baseball Poll have been eliminated (Valley Mills, Mumford, Bosqueville). That's why these games are played on the playing field, and not through statistics and rankings.

Harleton is on a roll, but so is Douglass. This should be a great series and we're hoping that the Indians can make another appearance at the State Tournament.