by Bret H. McCormick (Special to the LPJ)
SULPHUR – Cedar Creek’s first trip back to the state baseball tournament in a dozen years didn’t go as coach Chad Yates scripted Tuesday evening.
The Cougars managed just four hits and left the bases loaded twice in a 4-1 loss to Covenant Christian during the Division IV Select semifinals at McMurry Park on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Covenant took advantage of its minimal opportunities to scrape four runs across against Cedar Creek junior ace Kade Luker and ruin the Cougars’ hopes of winning their first state baseball championship since 2014.
Covenant (31-6), the No. 2 seed making its third straight trip to Sulphur, took advantage of a leadoff walk and hit batsman in the second inning and scored three runs on two singles that dropped between Cedar Creek second baseman Carter Nichols and right fielder Ryan Coleman.
“They got a big hit when it mattered,” Yates said. “They won one inning. Our guys battled.”
Despite the early deficit, the Cougars put themselves in a position to get back into the game on multiple occasions, loading the bases in the fifth and sixth innings.
The Cougars had two runners on the fifth thanks to a one-out error and walk before a sacrifice bunt by Eli Slocum put runners at second and third with Kade Luker, their star junior left-handed pitcher and leadoff batter who is committed to play at LSU, coming to the plate.
Covenant Christian coach Joe Teuton called for an intentional walk of Luker, his second of the game, which loaded the bases for senior shortstop Connor Yates, who grounded out to second base to end the inning.
After Luker gave up a two-out single that squirted between Nichols at second and Noah Smith at first into right field that gave the Lions a 4-0 lead, Cedar Creek put up one more valiant effort in the sixth inning.
Nichols roped a one-out double to right field and then scored on Smith’s single back up the middle to trim the deficit to three runs. Senior Jax Doiron followed with a single, and senior Drew Wade walked to load the bases with two outs.
When the Cougars needed a clutch hit, they once again were unable to deliver, as Slocum popped out to third to end the threat. Cedar Creek left eight runners on base in the game.
“We had a couple opportunities there with the bases loaded,” Coach Yates said. “We just needed to get that one knock here or there.”
“The baseball gods were looking out for us today,” Teuton said.
Coach Yates said he was pleased with the performance of Luker, who gave up four hits and two walks in five innings. He struck out five batters, raising his season total to 131 in 72 innings.
Luker took his first loss of the season, finishing the year at 10-1 with a 1.07 ERA. He also hit two deep balls that normally would have been home runs but fell just short of McMurry’s 385-foot sign in center field.
“We found a few barrels there today, just a bigger ballpark found their way into some gloves,” Coach Yates said.
Luker’s 0-for-2 day at the plate ended his season with a .544 batting average, five home runs and 35 RBIs.
Coach Yates said he was proud of the season the Cougars (27-6) had, which included an 8-0 record against Class 5A teams and the No. 2 seed in the Division IV Select playoffs, and with seven starters returning, the future is bright for Cedar Creek baseball.
“These guys have done everything that’s asked of them – just laid it all out there on the line,” he said.
