Convenience Big Store: State champions: Tomball beats Pearland for 6A baseball title

June 10, 2024

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Tomball leans on pitching, timely offense en route to 6A championship

Everyone knew a big factor for Tomball at the UIL Class 6A baseball tournament was going to be its pitching staff, which features dueling sophomore co-aces C.J. Sampson and Karson Reeder.

Runs are hard to come by off the pair, and it was proven over the weekend at Dell Diamond in Round Rock. It took all the way to the final out of the state championship game against Pearland for anyone to score a run off them.

Tomball (41-3) defeated Pearland in Saturday's state title game, which came less than 24 hours after shutting out San Antonio Johnson in the semifinals Friday night.

Reeder, who was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player, pitched a complete game against the Oilers in the first All-Houston state championship baseball game since 2013. After allowing a leadoff hit to start the bottom of the first, Reeder and the Cougars' defense got out of the inning with a double play, and the right-hander didn't allow a base runner again until the seventh. He struck out seven.

Sampson endured a scoreless game with Johnson on Friday until the Cougars were able to plate two runs in the bottom of the sixth on a two-run single by Blaine Lucas. Sampson allowed four hits through two innings but then retired 14 straight batters to conclude the outing. He struck out seven.

Tomball allowed just 1.3 runs per game while going 12-0 in the playoffs.

The Cougars brought back a state title to the city of Tomball, a community that has been very supportive of the team.

More state baseball

Partida party: Pearland (37-9) saw its season end in the state championship game for the second straight year. But the Oilers had a very memorable start to the tournament Friday. Pearland got another shot at Lewisville Flower Mound, the team that defeated them in the state title game last year, and stormed off Dell Diamond with a 2-1 win behind the stellar pitching of junior Nico Partida.

Mustangs blanked: Defending 5A champion Magnolia West (26-15) quietly saw its season come to an end Thursday in the semifinals against Lucas Lovejoy. The Leopards scored three times in the first inning and held the Mustangs off the board the entire way for a 4-0 win. Lovejoy fell to Grapevine in the state championship on Saturday on a walk-off hit.

Follow all our coverage at houstonchronicle.com/highschoolsports.

Rob Tate, Deputy High School Sports Coordinator

rtate@houstonchronicle.com

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