Two games define the Houston baseball team’s 2011 season.
The Tigers are the only district team to defeat top-seeded Salem.
They have also lost to seventh-seeded St. James.
“We can beat anybody in the district, but we can also lose to anybody in the district,” said Houston coach Brent Hall, whose team is seeded fifth in the seven-team field. “I believe we can beat anyone if we chose to play hard and the way we are capable. But I haven’t been able to sell that to the team this year.”
Houston (8-12) limps into district play with six consecutive losses following Tuesday’s 6-3 defeat at Mansfield. They will play fourth-seeded Cuba at 3 p.m. Saturday at Salem High School.
Other first-round games Saturday are (3) Ava vs. (6) Liberty at 10 a.m. and (2) Mountain Grove vs. (7) St. James at 12:30 p.m
Top-seeded Salem received a bye and will play the Cuba-Houston winner in Monday’s 4 p.m. semifinals.
Six of Houston’s losses have been by three runs or fewer, including a 4-3 defeat Friday to Plato. Two were in extra innings.
“We’ve been close in a lot of those games, but we just haven’t put it all together,” Hall said. “We’re not very fundamental and not playing very hard. Those are two things that will have to change going into districts.”
The Tigers have hung tough against the district’s top-seeded teams. They beat Salem 3-1 in the season opener and lost to both second-seeded Mountain Grove and third-seeded Ava in extra innings.
Cuba is the only district team Houston did not play this season. The Wildcats had an 11-4 record when the district was seeded. One of those wins was an 18-2 pounding of Bourbon on April 21 that included three home runs.
“They are a lot like us in the sense that they played a lot of close games, but they won their close games,” Hall said. “We’re on the flip side. We’ve played a lot of close games and let some of them slip away.”
On Monday, senior Eli Smith gave up four hits and four runs — none earned — in four innings against Mansfield. Hall said Smith would start Saturday’s district opener.
Nathan McCarthy had two of the team’s six hits. Kaleb Poynter was 1-for-4 with a two-run single.
The Tigers trailed 6-0 before scoring three times in the seventh. Poynter had a two-run single and McCarthy followed with an RBI double to account for the team’s three runs.
On Thursday, Houston scored three times in the bottom of the seventh inning as the Tigers nearly rallied past Plato before losing 4-3.
Rodney Preheim and Ethan Williamson had RBI singles and Lucas Cooperman walked with the bases loaded to pull Houston within a run. With the bases loaded, Poynter hit a high infield fly that was dropped near the pitcher’s mound. Elias Durbin, who was on third base, sprinted toward home and was easily tagged for the final out of the game.
Cooperman and Durbin each had a pair of hits. Williamson, McCarthy and Preheim were each 1-for-3.
Poynter took the loss, giving up nine hits and four earned runs in seven innings. He struck out 11 and walked two.
Box scores
VARSITY
Tuesday’s game
Houston 000 000 3 — 3 6 5
Mansfield 020 220 x — 6 5 3
hhs (8-12) ab r h bi mhs ab r h bi
Smith p 3 0 0 0 Allen ss 4 1 0 0
Wllmsn 1b 2 1 1 0 Camal p 4 0 0 0
Poynter ss 4 0 1 2 Hinsley c 3 0 1 0
McCarthy c 3 0 2 1 Jones lf 4 0 1 0
Coulter 3b 4 0 1 0 Quirk 2b 3 2 1 0
Preheim lf 3 0 1 0 Rumns cf 2 2 0 0
Durbin rf 2 1 0 0 McDnld dh 2 1 1 0
Mrcklng 2b 2 0 0 0 Swisher 3b 2 0 1 1
Alston lf 1 0 0 0 Appleby rf 3 0 0 0
Cantrell cf 3 1 0 0
Totals 27 3 6 3 Totals 27 6 5 1
2B: McCarthy. 3B: Quirk. SB: Appleby. SAC: McDonald, Swisher.
houston ip h r er bb so
Smith 4 4 4 0 0 2
Cantrell 2 1 2 1 0 2
mansfield ip h r er bb so
Camal, W 7 6 3 0 4 5
HBP: Smith, Hinsley, Rummens
Friday’s game
Plato 000 301 0 — 4 9 1
Houston 000 000 3 — 3 7 0
phs ab r h bi hhs (8-11) ab r h bi
Hall lf 4 1 2 0 Cprmn 1b 3 0 2 1
Miller rf 4 0 0 0 Wllmsn 2b 3 0 1 1
Barton ss 3 2 1 1 Poynter p 4 0 0 0
McNiel c 2 1 2 2 Smith ss 3 0 0 0
Cantrell 1b 3 0 1 1 Coulter 3b 2 1 0 0
Hilbrnd 3b 2 0 1 0 McCarthy c 3 1 1 0
Armsng dh 3 0 0 0 Preheim lf 3 1 1 0
Murrell p 3 0 1 0 Durbin rf 2 0 2 0
Cobb 2b 3 0 1 0 Cantrell cf 3 0 0 0
Totals 29 4 9 3 Totals 26 3 7 2
2B: Barton, McNiel. SB: Hall, Cobb, Poynter, Durbin. SAC: Williamson. CS: Cooperman
plato ip h r er bb so
Murrell, W 6 5 3 3 1 7
Cantrell, S 1 2 0 0 1 0
houston ip h r er bb so
Poynter, L 7 9 4 4 1 11
HBP: Barton, Coulter