Travis topples Katy to win regional quarterfinal series
RBI doubles by Faltine, Cox trigger decisive seven-run sixth
Putting away Travis isn’t going to be easy.
Even though Katy evened their playoff series Friday night and held a slim lead Saturday afternoon, the Fort Bend ISD school was due. This was the same lineup that swept through two rounds of postseason play and lit up the scoreboard for 12 runs to open against Katy.
It didn’t come until the sixth inning in Game 3, but the floodgates eventually opened. Travis sent 11 batters to the plate — the first seven before recording an out — and went on to post an 8-2 win at Tompkins to win the Class 6A regional quarterfinal series.
“These guys are probably one of the best-hitting teams I’ve seen in a long time,” said Katy coach Tom McPherson, whose team was outscored 21-4 by Travis in the three-game series. North Shore on deck
Travis (27-6-1) advances to face North Shore, which swept La Porte after rallying from a five-run deficit Friday to win the second game in extra innings.
The regional semifinal will be a best-of-three series starting Thursday at Rice. Coaches will meet Monday to finalize the game times for the series.
Saturday started as a continuation the day before — Katy’s pitching getting the better of Travis’ lineup. Winning the opener allowed Travis to hold off ace Ryan Rickett to Game 3 while Katy went with its No. 1 — Coy Cobb — who struck out seven in a three-hitter in Game 2.
Jacob Clayton allowed just one run on one hit through five innings opposite Rickett.
Katy gave Clayton a lead in the second. Matt Kissamis singled home courtesy runner Alex Atkinson, who ran for Zachary Schrab (leadoff walk). Kissamis advanced to second on throw home, which proved beneficial followed with a two-out grounder to Brandon Pruitt. ‘A domino effect’
The Travis shortstop bobbled the ball and threw wide across to first, allowing Kissamis, who was in scoring position, to come home and put Katy ahead 2-0.
Travis cut the margin in half on Jaren Burks’ RBI double to the right-field corner in the fourth.
Two innings later, things fell apart for Katy (27-11). The first seven Travis batters reached base and all came around to score before Katy recorded an out. By the time Pruitt grounded out, Travis had turned a one-run deficit into a five-run lead.
“It was just a domino effect … and when that happens, we just take off,” Travis coach Rodney Hernandez said.
Rickett doubled to start things off and Wes Faison followed with an RBI single to left. Cole Turney walked, Burks brought Faison home with a single, and a Wes Faltine double cleared the bases.
Two batters later, it was Dominic Cox with another two-run double. He scored on a Kevin Ortiz single.
“I definitely think we should have hit that kid a little sooner than what we did,” said Rickett, who struck out seven in a threehit complete game. “But I got a base hit to start it off and that just led to a string of hits. That was the main thing — going up there with confidence.
“I don’t think (the dugout has) ever been louder. Everyone was absolutely going nuts.” angel.verdejo@chron.com twitter.com/ahverdejo