The Houston Tigers haven’t played a complete game this season, at least in the eyes of coach Brent Hall.
But they finally came close.
Kyle Poynter homered and gave up just three hits in seven strong innings as the Tigers earned an 8-2 road victory Thursday at Ava.
It was the second of three consecutive victories for Houston, which finished third over the weekend at the Seymour Tournament. The Tigers (8-7) have won four of their last five games to climb over the .500 mark.
“I’m never satisfied. That’s kind of my nature in general,” Hall said. “I don’t know if all year long we’ve put together a solid seven innings. The Ava game was real close.”
Seniors Caleb Smith and David Weybright were each 3-for-4 against the Bears to account for six of the Tigers’ 10 hits. Smith knocked in three runs, and Weybright had a pair of doubles and scored three times.
Poynter struck out seven batters and walked three as he improved to 4-0. Poynter didn’t allow an earned run and saw his ERA shrink to 1.12.
In Friday’s opening round of the Seymour Tournament, Weybright singled home the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning as the Tigers squeaked past Seymour 9-8.
The rally started when Kaleb Poynter was hit by a pitch. He advanced to second on a groundout and scored on Weybright’s hit to left-center field.
Kyle Poynter was 3-for-3 and homered for the second straight game. Brad Pounds and Eli Smith had two hits each.
After losing to state-ranked Dora 7-5 Saturday morning, the Tigers got a career-high 14 strikeouts from senior David Foster as they thumped Gainesville 10-4 in the third-place game.
Foster, who changed his arm angle and developed a knuckle curveball in practice last week, fanned 14 of the 26 batters he faced. Foster gave up just four hits and two earned runs.
“He’s never had a good curveball,” Hall said. “He was throwing the same type of knuckle curve (from practice), and they just couldn’t get him timed.”
Saturday’s games
Houston 343 000 0 – 10 12 3
Gainesville 000 031 0 – 4 4 4
HOUSTON (ab-r-h-bi) – Weybright cf 4-3-2-0. Mooney 3b 5-3-3-0. CSmith c 4-1-1-1. KyPoynter ss 4-1-1-3. DFoster p 3-0-2-3. Case rf 3-0-0-0. Barton rf 1-0-1-0. Pounds 1b 3-0-1-0. Knetzer 1b 1-0-0-0. KaPoynter 2b 4-0-0-0. TFoster lf 2-2-1-0. Totals 33-10-12-7.
2B: Weybright, KyPoynter. SB: KyPoynter. SF: KyPoynter, DFoster.
houston ip h r er bb so
DFoster, W 7 4 4 2 2 14
Dora 111 201 1 – 7 9 1
Houston 011 001 2 – 5 8 3
HOUSTON (ab-r-h-bi) – Weybright cf 4-1-1-0. Mooney p 3-0-1-0. CSmith c 4-1-2-0. KyPoynter ss 4-1-2-0. DFoster lf 4-0-1-2. Case rf 3-1-0-0. Knetzer dh 2-1-1-0. KaPoynter 2b 3-0-0-0. ESmith 3b 3-0-0-0. Totals 30-5-8-2.
2B: Weybright, CSmith.
houston ip h r er bb so
Mooney, L 7 9 7 5 1 8
Friday’s game
Seymour 305 000 0 – 8 7 4
Houston 220 211 1 – 9 11 3
HOUSTON (ab-r-h-bi) – Weybright cf 5-0-1-1. Mooney 3b 3-1-1-1. CSmith c 4-1-1-0. KyPoynter ss 3-1-3-3. DFoster lf 4-0-0-0. Case rf 4-0-0-0. Pounds 1b 4-1-2-0. KaPoynter 2b 1-3-1-0. ESmith p 4-2-2-1. Totals 29-9-11-6.
2B: Mooney, ESmith. HR: KyPoynter.
houston ip h r er bb so
ESmith, 2.1 3 6 3 2 2
Weybright, W 4.2 4 2 0 2 3
HBP: KaPoynter.
Thursday’s game
Houston 200 420 0 – 8 10 2
Ava 200 000 0 – 2 3 3
HOUSTON (ab-r-h-bi) – Weybright cf 4-3-3-2. Mooney ss 4-0-1-0. CSmith c 4-2-3-3. KyPoynter p 3-1-1-2. DFoster 4-0-1-0. ESmith 3b 2-0-0-0. Knetzer dh 4-0-0-0. KaPoynter 2b 4-1-0-0. Case rf 3-1-1-0. Totals 32-8-10-7.
2B: Weybright 2, CSmith. HR: KyPoynter.
houston ip h r er bb so
KyPoynter, W 7 3 2 0 3 7
HBP: ESmith.