Houston Cypress Ranch, Arlington Martin to meet in Class 6A title game,

Josh Avery cracked a single through the drawn-in infield in the top of the seventh to bring home Aaron Fanning with the winning run, as Arlington Martin came from behind to beat top-ranked Laredo Alexander 3-2 in the Class 6A semifinals at the UIL state baseball tournament on Friday.

Arlington Martin (28-5) advanced to the championship game for the first time since 1993, the year it last won a state title. Martin will face Houston Cypress Ranch in the final, at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Dell Diamond.

Avery’s game-winning hit came after Fanning singled and advanced to second on a fielding error to open the seventh. Tony Defilippo bunted Fanning to third, forcing Alexander’s defense to play in for a chance to cut off the winning run at the plate. But Avery foiled the strategy with an inside-out, opposite-field single to right.

Eric Walker (14-0) earned the win by allowing two runs — including a solo home run by Alexander’s Alan Campero in the second inning — and scattering six hits.

Alexander (31-4) forged a 2-0 lead in the fourth when Ramon Ballina doubled home Dami- an Rodriguez, who had also doubled. But ace pitcher Sergio Macias (91), couldn’t hold the lead.

Houston Cypress Ranch 2, Dallas Jesuit 1: Masen Hibbeler’s perfectly executed suicide squeeze bunt in the top of the seventh drove home pinch-runner Logan Thibodeaux with the deciding run as Houston Cypress Ranch outlasted Dallas Jesuit in the second Class 6A semifinal.

The Mustangs (30-6) won the state title in 2012 in their only other appearance in the tournament.

Cypress Ranch gained a 1-0 lead in the fourth on a leadoff double by Elijah MacNamee, a sacrifice bunt by Marshall Skinner and a run-scoring flyout from Zeke Bear.

Cypress Ranch starting pitcher Riley Gossett (92) kept Dallas Jesuit (354-2) off balance and off the scoreboard until the sixth, when Darius Hill slashed a stand-up triple into the right-field corner, then scored on Nic Ready’s sacrifice fly to knot the score at 1-1.

Bear legged out a triple to lead off the seventh and set the table for Hibbeler’s heroics. Gossett, who allowed just four hits while striking out eight and walking one, surrendered a two-out single in the seventh before fanning Austin Sheahan to end the game.