June 8, 2007, 9:13PM
Texas City falls to Mesquite Poteet in state semis
By RONNIE TURNER
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
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ROUND ROCK — Alas, the magical ride is over for Texas City. And all it took to end it was a mighty swing from Mesquite Poteet catcher J.T. Files.
With state-ranked No.2 Poteet trailing Texas City by two runs in their Class 4A state semifinal matchup and facing a bases-loaded, two-out situation in the third inning, Files crushed the first offering from Stingarees starter Chase Campbell over the left field wall for a grand slam. That homer gave the Pirates their first lead of the matchup and they held on to win 6-3 this evening at Dell Diamond.
Poteet (34-4) advances to the 4A state championship game at 7 p.m. Saturday to face the winner of the other semifinal game between top-ranked Corpus Christi Moody and No. 10 Canyon Randall, which is set to start at 8:25 p.m. tonight.
Texas City ends its season at 26-12. The Stingarees reached the state tournament after upsetting third-ranked Montgomery in the Region III-4A final, two games to one.
Texas City got off to a good start against Poteet and led 3-0 after two innings. Third baseman Trey Strickland drove in Jonathan Campbell and Justin Perkins with a two-out single in the top of the first.
Stingarees catcher Blake Apffel led off the top of the second with a double off Poteet starter Johnnie Riley, and scored on an error by Pirates first baseman Teddy Nowell.
The lead was short-lived. The Pirates capitalized on three hits, two hit batsmen, and a walk to score five runs in the bottom of the third and move ahead 5-3. Files supplied the key hit with his two-out grand slam.
Nowell pushed the Pirates' lead to three runs with an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth off Texas City reliever Michael Martin.
Poteet reliever Charley Westmoreland (7-1) earned the win after holding the Stingarees scoreless on two hits over the final five innings.