A trip to the Lone Star State last week proved to be a special one for the Magnolia Heights baseball program, as the Chiefs went toe-to-toe with some of the nation’s best high school teams in the Five Tool High School Festival.
Taking place at various locations around the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area, MHS played five games, earning four wins against Texas-based programs Highland Park, Dallas Jesuit Prep, Argyle and Marcus. The Chiefs fell in their final game of the tournament, a 1-0 decision to Mater Dei (Calif.).
It took Magnolia Heights a couple innings to get going in the opening game against Highland Park, but Ethan Barnes put the Chiefs ahead 1-0 with an RBI-single in the third inning. Tre Miller helped MHS tack on a couple more runs in the fourth, thanks to his two-out, two-run triple, stretching the lead to 3-0.
Meanwhile, Connor Edge kept the Scots off the board for five complete frames, until a two-out single broke up the shutout in the sixth inning. However, Edge stayed in and notched the complete game victory, as Magnolia Heights held on for the 3-1 victory.
Against Jesuit Prep, the Chiefs wasted no time establishing a comfortable advantage, plating four runs in the top half of the first inning. The Rangers threatened a response in the bottom of the first, but J.G. Lane got out of the inning unharmed.
After a two-run homer highlighted a three-run frame in the top of the second, Magnolia Heights saw its 7-0 lead fade slightly in the third inning, as Jesuit Prep hit a two-run homer to close the gap to 8-2.
Jesuit Prep inched closer with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth, but both teams hung zeroes over the final two innings, sealing an 8-4 triumph for the Chiefs.
In the third game of the weekend against Argyle, MHS fell behind early as the Eagles plated a run in the first inning. However, the Chiefs responded in a huge way in the home half of the second, scoring six runs and gaining a 6-1 advantage.
Argyle got a run back in the third inning and kept MHS off the board the rest of the way, but the Eagles could also do little, if anything else, against the Chiefs’ pitching staff. Magnolia Heights held on for the 6-2 victory.
MHS fell behind early in the fourth game against Marcus as well, only to once again respond in the second inning. Sowell’s two-run homer put the Chiefs ahead, 2-1, and a four-run frame in the third further widened the gap to 6-1.
Marcus scattered runs across the fifth and sixth innings, but a sacrifice fly from Cole Prosek helped the Chiefs take a 7-3 lead into the seventh inning. From there, Quincy Pratt remained on the mound, delivering a complete game effort and securing the win for MHS.
A pitcher’s duel unfolded in the final game of the road trip against Mater Dei, with both teams going scoreless through the first five frames. Magnolia Heights put runners on base in the sixth, but were unable to score. The Monarchs responded by pushing through its one and only run of the game in the bottom of the sixth, handing the Chiefs their first loss of the season.
Magnolia Heights is now 8-1 on the season, and will return to action on Thursday, March 6 against MUS at 5 P.M. The Chiefs will also face Kirk at 5 P.M. on Friday, March 7.
