Fortunately for top-ranked Rogers, Chris Joshlin isn’t a normal player or competitor - and Eagles coach Craig Coheley certainly hasn’t minded handing him the ball in that high-stakes situation two straight years.
Rogers jumped on unbeaten Trinity ace Dallas Gallant for three first-inning runs, Joshlin threw 4 1/3 scoreless innings and Ricky Brenek held off the No. 2 Tigers’ last-gasp rally as the Eagles earned a 3-2 win Thursday night to sweep the teams’ Class 2A Region IV championship series and record a repeat trip to the state tournament.
After junior ace Taylor Jungmann dominated Trinity (25-6) in a 6-1 victory one night earlier at Blinn College’s Leroy Dreyer Field, Coheley had the option of starting the 8-0 Brenek or fellow senior right-hander Joshlin, the Eagles’ star catcher. Joshlin came in with 16 career wins but only a 1-1 record in 12 1/3 innings this season.
Coheley remembered that Joshlin’s stellar relief pitching a year ago in Game 3 of the 2A-IV final against Schulenburg helped Rogers come back to seize its first state berth, and his decision to go with Joshlin again paid big-time dividends for the 34-2 Eagles, aiming for their school’s first state championship.
“There’s been two times when we needed him to send us to Round Rock, and he’s gotten the job done both times,” said Coheley, whose team lost senior Alan Valenzuela (10-0) to a broken ankle last weekend but will be at Dell Diamond next Friday to play a semifinal game at 10 a.m. or 1 p.m. “Any other year, Chris would be on the mound a lot more. He has that composure and he’s that kind of competitor.”
Joshlin emerged from Rogers’ postgame celebration in his customary full gear, having caught the final 2 2/3 innings as Brenek earned the save despite allowing solo home runs to Cole Thornton and Gallant in the top of the seventh.
The look on Joshlin’s sweat-drenched face spoke of satisfaction - from his own performance to those of his teammates, including Jungmann’s run-scoring single, Cameron’s Doskocil’s two-run double and Brenek’s relief effort.
“It feels good to know I’ll leave high school having won two games to make us go to state,” said Joshlin, who had five strikeouts and allowed four hits - all singles. “When Alan went out I had a feeling I might have to come in and pitch a game, and tonight I did my job.
“My defense played great behind me, and Ricky’s a warrior and he came in and finished it off.”
Added Brenek: “All year long Coach has had (pitching) workouts in practice for us and kept telling us, ‘You never know when we’ll need you to pitch.’ That time was tonight.”
It was a difficult defeat to swallow for Trinity and first-year coach Kent Craig. Entering the series the Tigers hadn’t lost to a 2A team all season, and they were hopeful that Sam Houston State signee Gallant (15-1) could pitch them into a deciding Game 3 tonight.
Gallant, a hard-throwing right-hander, struck out eight in a five-hitter and was stellar after the first inning, but yet another early explosion by Rogers proved to be too much for his team to overcome.
“Dallas was not sharp early with command of his fastball, and they came out fired up like we did against their big boy (Texas commitment Jungmann) last night,” Craig said. “We had our chances and our guys competed, but it just wasn’t in the cards for us.”
After Joshlin worked around a one-out walk in the top of the first, Gallant needed only four pitches to get the first two outs on Rogers.
But Joshlin hit a single to left-center field and Marshall Coots walked, then Jungmann poked a single through the right side of the infield to drive in courtesy runner Kenny Watson for a 1-0 lead - giving the Eagles first-inning runs in their last six playoff games.
Sophomore first baseman Cameron Doskocil then crushed a Gallant offering off the left-field wall, scoring Coots and letting Jungmann race all the way from first to make it a 3-0 advantage.
“That was a big lift for our pitchers,” Coheley said. “We took batting practice over at (Brenham’s) Fireman’s Park and our guys came out swinging it.”
However, Gallant settled down and didn’t allow a runner to advance past second in Rogers’ final five at-bats.
A crucial moment occurred in the top of the second. Joshlin got two quick outs, but an error, a hit batsman and a walk loaded the bases for Thornton. His slow roller hugged the third-base line and appeared likely to go for a run-scoring hit, but catcher Brenek fielded it and in the same motion made a spinning tag on Jamie Drake to quell the threat.
In the third, three consecutive singles gave the Tigers another bases-loaded opportunity with two outs. Joshlin went to a full count on Drake, then fired a fastball on the outside corner at the knees to get him looking and ruin another scoring shot.
Joshlin began the fifth with his fifth strikeout but then allowed a single to Gallant, prompting Coheley to move Joshlin to catcher and Brenek to the mound. Brenek retired Josh Ivy on a groundout and got Jered McKee to foul out to first.
Brenek was perfect in the sixth and struck out Joe McCann to start the seventh, but Thornton ripped a homer down the line in left and Gallant followed another strikeout by launching his ninth homer to left.
What, Brenek worry?
“I wasn’t thinking about the two home runs,” he said. “I was thinking, ‘One more out and we’re going to Round Rock.’”
And he got that out, as third baseman Kory Michalka charged Ivy’s slow grounder and threw him out on a close play to seal the sweep and ignite another Eagle celebration.
“Our guys have had their eyes on getting back to state since February and they got it done,” said Coheley, adding that Jungmann (12-0) will pitch the state semifinal.
Said Joshlin: “We know what our job is this year, and that’s to win state.”
