Indians capture first state title since 2002

The Waco Christian Warriors had all the statistics and media hype but one thing they didn’t have was Jeff Matula.

Matula deflated some big egos Saturday afternoon in Waco by tossing a two-hitter to lead the Sacred Heart Indians to a 4-1 victory over Waco Christian for the TAPPS 2-A state championship at Baylor’s Ferrell Field Saturday.

Matula, pitching with only 25 hours rest, silenced the Warrior bats and struck out 12 in going the distance to up his record to 12-1 on the season.

On Friday morning, he held Lubbock Christian to just three hits and fanned 18 to give him 30 Ks for the tournament.

“We were just going to let him go as far as he could,” said coach Trey Kraatz. “He was tired at the end, but always came up with the big pitch.”

The state title was the second in three years for the Indians, who finished the season 19-3-1.

Waco Christian, who beat the Indians in nine innings last year for the state title, ended up 23-9.

The Indians once again followed the pattern that helped them reach the pinnacle by taking advantage of everything they could get. One of the four runs the Indians scored off Jeremy Shipp (8-2) were earned.

The Indians had 11 hits, but stranded 11 baserunners. Rodney Haas went 3-for-4 , while Steven Clark and Greg Kolenovsky had two hits apiece.

The classic confrontation in the contest pitted Matula against the Warriors’ Tyrone Lewis, who is headed to McClennan College to play baseball, came into the game with 10 home runs, 43 RBI and a .400 plus batting average. But Matula retired him twice on a pop up, and another time on a sacrifice fly to deep centerfield. Lewis walked in his other plate appearance.

“The main thing was we didn’t want Lewis coming up with men on base,” Kraatz said. “Jeff handled him real well.”

The Warriors had runners on base in every inning, but Matula, relying mostly on his curve ball, allowed only three runners past third base.

The Indians dented the board in the second inning with two outs. Rodney Mazoch blooped a single to left to start the round and Boe Reeves reached on an error. A sacrifice bunt by Keith Kutac moved runners up. Mazoch scored on Stuart Goedrich’s infield out before Clark’s double down the left field line.

The Indians scored an extra run in the seventh to pad their lead to 4-1.

Kolenovsky singled to right and Matula reached on an error. Adam Henke ensued with a solid base hit to right to score Kolenovsky.

SH 7, LC 1

Jeff Matula’s three hit, 19-strikeout gem on Friday morning led the Indians to the state finals against Lubbock Christian Friday morning.

After allowing two hits through the first two frames, Matula retired 15 of the next 16 batters he faced.

The Indians led 3-0 until the sixth before b re a k i n g t h e g a m e open.