ROUND ROCK – Just like the last time the Plano West baseball team exited Dell Diamond, the Wolves were sporting medals around their neck.
And just like the last time West left the field in Round Rock, there were plenty of tears to be found.
But the similarities between 2008 and 2010 ended there as gold medals were replaced Friday afternoon by bronze and tears of happiness were supplanted by tears of sorrow as West was defeated by Klein, 4-3, in the Class 5A State Championship.
“There were a whole bunch of little-bitty things in this game that didn't go our way,” said Kendall Clark, West head coach. “And down here, you have to have it all working if you want to win.”
The momentum of the game was squarely in favor of Baseball America's No. 1 team for much of the way, but there were two dramatic shifts in the final two innings.
The first came in the top of sixth as West scored three runs to tie the game at 3-3.
Wolves senior Ryan Ford, freshman Billy McKinney and senior Aaron Machbitz each drew walks to load the bases with no outs. That was the end of the day for Klein starter Clayton Crum, who allowed just two hits but walked eight batters. Evan Rutter replaced Crum and he was quickly tagged for an RBI single by senior Clint Rupp, one of his two hits.
That put West on the board, but the Wolves weren't done as the game was about to take a wild turn.
“We battled the whole time,” said Robert Huber, West senior starting pitcher.
West senior Andrew Blum followed with a lazy fly ball to right that looked like an out. But the ball quickly dropped for a single. That plated one run and the Wolves nearly tied the game, but senior pinch runner Andrew Ard ran into Clark while rounding third base. Instead of scoring, Ard was thrown out trying to get back to the bag.
“We were originally tagging on that play because it looked like the ball would be caught,” Clark said. “Then I saw it was going to fall so I waved [the first runner] home and decided to stop Andrew at third. I moved up to give him the stop sign, but saw their fielder was slow to get the ball so I waved him home.
“It's my fault because by that point I was too close to the bag. I should have stuck with my first instinct.”
It wasn't all bad for West though as sophomore Toran Tillotson kept the rally going with an RBI single that put the score at an overdue count of 3-3.
Huber kept Klein at bay in the bottom of the sixth and West was primed to take its first lead of the day after back-to-back Bearkats errors put Wolves runners at first and second base with one out. A fielder's choice pushed those runners to second and third, but they would get no further as Klein's Rob Tasin induced a grounder to shortstop for the final out of the inning.
Leaving men stranded was a theme of the game for West.
“We didn't take advantage of the chances we had,” said Blake Parker, West senior left fielder. “With runners on, we weren't as good as we have been in the playoffs.”
The Wolves left nine runners on base for the game and had seven in scoring position that never reached the plate. Several of those came early in the game as West had the bases loaded in the first and runners on at first and second base in the second inning only to come away empty-handed both times.
“If you look back, we really let them off the hook in the first and second innings,” Clark said. “We had the opportunities to score, but left too many guys on. And when you do that, especially against a good team, you usually get beat.”
That would be the case Friday as Klein scored the winning run in the bottom of the seventh.
But not before a little more wildness.
Tasin, the winning pitcher, would draw a lead-off walk from Huber, the losing pitcher. That ended the day for Huber as Friday was the first time this postseason Huber didn't throw at least seven innings.
“I had a little bit of a tough time today and didn't get as many strikeouts as usual,” Huber said, “but credit Klein for that; their hitters are strong one through nine.”
Blum came in and quickly found the bases loaded with just one out following an error and a single by Eric Fisher. That single was particularly notable as Tasin tripped while advancing to third and appeared to be tagged out on the way back to second. The umpire thought differently and Clark lost his appeal, giving the Bearkats another baserunner.
“There were a couple of things we could have got caught up on,” Huber said, “but the umpires aren't the ones that win or lose the game and I think we did a good job of staying with the mentality that the next pitch is the most important.”
The next pitch was the most important as Klein's Hank Morgan smacked a ball to left field to score a run and win the game for the Bearkats, 4-3.
That was the first for Klein since the bottom of the third when the Bearkats got consecutive hits, two of the bunt variety, from the quartet of Ryan Van Marter, Aaron Smith, Tasin and Mitchell Nau. The final hit in that string was a two-RBI double from Nau, one of his three hits on the day.
That gave Klein the advantage until the sixth when West made its timely, but ultimately unsuccessful comeback push.
“We will hang around,” Parker said, finally able to crack a smile. “We never gave up and I knew we wouldn't because this is a heck of a team.”