JASPER — The West Orange-Stark Mustangs seem to have found their groove again Friday night as they hosed the Splendora Wildcats 14-2 in the Class 4A bi-district round of the playoffs.

The Mustang bats combined with some serious pitching from junior Jack Dallas, revived a Mustangs team that seen things start to unravel the last half of district play. Dallas notched 11 strikeouts on the night along with 3-for-4 batting and three runs batted in.

 

KJ Miller got the Mustang bats swinging early. Miller led off with a double to deep left center field. Payton Robertson quickly brought in the first run with an RBI double past the second baseman that allowed Miller to cross the plate. Robertson was able to slip across home after a Ryan Ragsdale RBI single for an early 2-0 lead for the Mustangs after the top of the first.

 

Splendora seemed to look as if they were going to keep the game interesting. After Jack Dallas fanned the first two batters, Dylan Johnson reached on a single to right field. Kam Levis took a full count pitch for a walk and Johnson later scored on a wild pitch that got by catcher Chad Dallas. Jack would strike out the side though and hold the Wildcats to just one run scored on an error.

 

A long-winded top of second was in store for the onlooking fans.

Blake Robinson led off the inning with a single for the Mustangs with Keyshawn Holeman following suit with a single of his own. Miller found his way back to the plate and ripped an RBI single past shortstop to score Robinson. Payton Robertson would walk to load the bases, forcing the Wildcats into their first of four pitching changes. Jack Dallas took advantage of the loaded bases with an RBI sacrificefly. Chad Dallas found himself at the plate with two outs and two on the bags following a Ryan Ragsdale strikeout. Chad launched a deep ball off the left field wall to score Miller and Robertson and pushed the Mustang lead to 6-1. The Mustangs managed to scoot two more runs across before the end of the side to lead, 8-1. Chad Dallas went 3-for-3 with three RBI.

 

Jack Dallas struck out the bottom of the second in order on just 12 pitches thrown to make quick work of the Wildcat bats. The Mustang bats went cold in the top of the third as they would be handed a quick, one-two-three inning. The Wildcats got another run across the plate in the bottom of the third after a wild throw to first allowed Brady Peachee to cross home for the second and final Wildcat run of the night.

 

The Mustangs lit up the top of the fourth to essentially put the game out of reach as they would go up by more than 10 runs. Ragsdale led off the inning with a triple and was brought home after Chad Dallas ripped an RBI single just over the third baseman’s head to start the scoring. The Mustangs held to a 10-2 lead with no outs and the bases loaded with Splendora making one last-ditch effort with another pitching change. Following a couple of free runs on wild throws and a walk, Jack Dallascame back to the plate sitting on a 12-2 lead with two runners on the bags. Dallas launched a deep ball to left field to score both runners as he rounded second and dove into third base for the Mustangs second triple of the night. The Mustangs led 14-2 after four complete innings with the Wildcats not being able to muster anything in the bottom half of the inning.

 

The Mustangs closed out Splendora in the fifth inning after a ten run rule would end the game as the Wildcats could not get enough runs across to salvage the game.

 

WO-S will move on to the area round of the 4A playoffs with the big win along with a ton of momentum. The opponent will either be Giddings or Houston Furr.