Brent Hall’s 300th career victory arrived with an impressive individual performance.
Junior Connor Wilson threw a no-hitter and struck out 14 batters Tuesday as Houston blanked Cabool 1-0 in the Plato Tournament.
Just two days later, the Tigers gave Hall his 301st win by rallying to score five times in the bottom of the seventh inning to beat Liberty 10-9.
Hall entered his 21st season with 296 career wins and quickly moved toward 300 as HHS started the year 3-0. But four straight losses left the veteran coach waiting for the milestone.
Wilson changed that.
The lanky right-hander threw seven dominant innings as he improved to 2-1 on the season. He walked three and threw 56 of his 98 pitches for strikes.
Wilson’s no-no was the program’s first since Sterling Jackson accomplished the feat as a freshman in April 2017.
The Tigers (5-4) scored the game’s lone run in the top of the first inning. Sophomore Alex Castleman doubled with two outs and scored on Jackson’s run-scoring single to center.
{{tncms-inline account=”HouMoBaseball” html=”<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Coach Hall receiving a plaque for his 300th win after the game vs Liberty Thursday night. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/thetigerway?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#thetigerway</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/houstonherald?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@houstonherald</a> <a href="https://t.co/VBV3YhtP3S">pic.twitter.com/VBV3YhtP3S</a></p>&mdash; Houston Baseball (@HouMoBaseball) <a href="https://twitter.com/HouMoBaseball/status/1114132264252858368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 5, 2019</a></blockquote>” id=”1114132264252858368″ type=”twitter”}}
HHS had five hits – Castleman’s double and singles from Jackson, Cody Allen, Trevor Mitchell and freshman Wiley Sisco. Wilson and Sisco had stolen bases.
COMEBACK CONFERENCE WIN
After Liberty scored four times in the top of the seventh to break open a tied game, the Tigers one-upped the Eagles for a comeback win in their first South Central Association game of 2019.
Jackson start the rally with a single to right field to score Wilson. Castleman, who reached on an error, raced home on a wild pitch to make it 9-7. Devin Wallander’s single plated Jackson and HHS pulled even when Trevor Mitchell scored on a wild pitch.
The rally ended when Cody Allen’s fly ball to right was misplayed, allowing courtesy runner Hunter Stilley to score the game-winning run.
Jackson was 3-for-4 with two RBIs and a pair of runs scored. Wilson had three hits and scored three times.
HHS junior Jacob Koch prepares to deliver a pitch in Thursday’s game against Liberty. Koch earned the victory to improve to 3-1.
Junior Jacob Koch earned his team-leading third win of the year in relief. He scattered three hits and allowed three earned runs in six innings. He struck out three and walked three.
BOX SCORES
Tuesday’s game
| Houston | 100 | 000 | 0 | – | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| Cabool | 000 | 000 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 1 |
HOUSTON (ab-r-h-bi) – Cody Allen c 3-0-1-0. Conner Wilson p 3-0-0-0. Alex Castleman ss 4-1-1-0. Sterling Jackson 1b 3-0-1-1. Trevor Mitchell 2b 2-0-1-0. Devin Wallander ld 3-0-0-0. Braedin Groff 3b 3-0-0-0. Brecken Adey dh 2-0-0-0. Wiley Sisco cf 3-0-1-0. Totals 26-1-5-1.
2B: Castleman. SB: Wilson, Sisco.
| HOUSTON | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Wilson, W (2-1) | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 14 |
Thursday’s game
| Liberty | 021 | 002 | 4 | – | 9 | 3 | 2 |
| Houston | 000 | 410 | 5 | – | 10 | 7 | 3 |
HOUSTON (ab-r-h-bi) – Cody Allen c 5-0-0-0. Conner Wilson ss 4-3-3-0. Alex Castleman cf 3-1-0-0. Sterling Jackson 1b 4-2-3-2. Jacob Koch 2b 2-1-0-0. Trevor Mitchell 3b 2-2-0-1. Devin Wallander dh 3-0-1-2. Braedin Groff p 2-0-0-0. Wiley Sisco lf 2-0-0-1. Hunter Stilley pr 0-1-0-0. Totals 27-10-7-6.
2B: Wilson, Jackson. SB: Castleman, Jackson, Koch, Wallander. CS: Castleman.
| HOUSTON | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Groff | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 0 |
| Koch, W (3-1) | 6 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 3 |