HS Baseball: Daigle Pitches Shutout in Narrow Highlander Win

CONROE, TX -- The Woodlands Highlanders kept their unbeaten streak through district alive following their 3-0 road shutout over the Conroe Tigers on Thursday.

The Highlanders' close 1-0 win on Tuesday in Scotland Yard gave them a scare in extra innings. The team needed late heroics from Chase Bradley to walk the game off and avoid the upset, but their approach to the talented Tigers did not change between games.

In an exclusive interview with The Woodlands Online Sports, Highlander Head Coach Ron Eastman discussed the few changes ahead of their rematch with Conroe.

“That’s a quick turnaround, it’s hard to change things,” explained Eastman. “We knew they were a much better team this year and had been playing really well. Sometimes the guys don’t understand that, but we’re fortunate to have had some great play against them.”

Leading the charge for the Woodlands’ road effort was their pitcher and cornerstone on the mound, Erich Daigle.

Seamless tendencies and short time between pitches kept the Tigers from gaining any traction in the early going. Four consecutive innings without giving up a hit was a strong enough effort to ensure that the Highlander bats had the time they needed to find their swings against Conroe.

On top of his near no-hitter through four innings, Daigle established a streak of at least one strikeout per inning that he carried throughout the entire game. His control on the mound was instrumental in keeping the Highlanders moving in a positive direction.

“It starts on the mound. Erich [Daigle] did a great job tonight. He was in his element, in the zone out there,” said Eastman. “He threw lights out tonight. That’s the Erich Daigle we know and love.”

With Daigle and the rest of the Highlander defense keeping the Tigers scoreless, the bats had to match the production to keep another game from becoming a defensive struggle.

Unfortunately for The Woodlands, it took just over a full go of the batting rotation and three scoreless innings to find their strides. One hit through three, and only one instance of a runner being left on base, were indications that the Tigers were maintaining their sturdy defensive play.

However, the dam finally burst in the top of the fourth inning for the Highlander bats.

A lead-off fly-out continued the lackluster production, but it was immediately followed by five runners reaching base for the Highlanders out of six at-bats.

Included in that stretch were four hits and three consecutive RBIs from Bradley, Gus Bickett, and Daigle, who provided himself with some crucial run support.

“We’d run through the order for the second time, and I think we’d seen [their pitcher] and picked up the way he threw coming from below and going into a sidearm,” said Eastman. “It’s kind of hard to pick that up the first time through the order. I thought we did a good job on the second time through and ambushed them for three runs.”

The Woodlands’ 3-0 cushion after the top of the fourth was a huge leap in production from their previous innings, and it led to a pitching change for the Tigers.

Bryce Thompson was called in to stop the bleeding on the scoreboard, ending the top of the fourth without any more runs given up. This change would see Conroe tip the balance back to an even performance on defense, but continued struggles at the plate kept their comeback from happening.

An ever-increasing number of strikeouts from the electrifying Daigle meant the Tigers had to pull out all of the stops to try and break the Highlander defense. Pinch hitters were tried to no avail, and only Sam Buzbee found actual success at the plate for Conroe.

Buzbee’s double on an infield error and a single in the second and fifth innings were the only bases reached by any Tiger at any point in the game.

Even with the Highlanders falling silent after their fourth-inning sprint, the defense did enough to keep the lead intact without the threat of a Conroe comeback.

The double-digit strikeout tally posted by Daigle by the end of the game punctuated his unrelenting control over the Conroe batters as he completed his full-game shutout in a 3-0 Woodlands win.

The road win secures the 14th consecutive district win on the year for The Woodlands, but the chance for another 13-6A squad to spoil the party is still in the cards, with the Oak Ridge War Eagles just two games behind and their series on deck.

“We’re going to be looking at two really good teams back-to-back,” said Eastman. “Both teams have really good pitching, but [Oak Ridge] has their ace since it looks like he’s back and healthy. We haven’t scouted them in a while, but I know J.J. [Peirce] does a good job over there.”

The final series of the season to decide a district champion will start on Tuesday between the hosting Oak Ridge War Eagles and the visiting Highlanders.

Meanwhile, the Tigers will need wins in their final series of the regular season to stay inside the playoff picture, with the Cleveland Indians serving as their last opponents.

Photos