Winning twice and losing once, the Houston High School baseball team earned the third-place plaque this week at the annual Stoutland Spring Classic.
The event’s unusual format included four teams in a bracket (Houston, Plato, Bourbon and Dixon) and three in a pool (Stoutland, Conway and Laquey), with bracket play on Monday and Wednesday and pool play on Tuesday. The top three teams in the bracket and pool competed Thursday for first, second, third and fifth place.
Houston blasted Plato, 15-0, in the first round and fell to Dixon in the second round, 7-2. The Tigers (second in the bracket) then faced Stoutland on Thursday and beat the host Tigers, 12-2.
ENJOYMENT ON OFFENSE
In the opener against Plato, neither team scored in the first inning. Houston then essentially put the game away with 10 runs in the top of the second. The decisive rally included 7 hits (including 6 singles and a double by freshman Tucker Venn), a sacrifice fly, 2 walks, a hit batter and 2 errors by Eagles fielders.
The Tigers added another 5 runs in the top of the fourth inning and the contest ended after 4 complete innings.
Venn finished with 3 hits in the game, while fellow freshmen Stryker Sloan, Knox McCloy, Blake Sanders and Griffin Aaron had 2 apiece.
Sanders did the pitching for Houston, allowing only 2 hits while striking out 8 and walking 1.
Junior Evan Edwards scored 3 runs as a courtesy runner for the Tigers, while junior catcher Jasper McCloy had 3 RBIs.
OFFENSIVE DROUGHT
Against Dixon, Houston took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when senior Aaden Scantlin singled with 1 out, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a ground out.
But the Bulldogs went ahead 2-1 in the bottom of the frame and never looked back.
The Tigers had only 4 hits in the contest, with Scantlin going 2-for-3 with a double and 2 runs scored.
Houston’s McCloy brothers – Jasper and Knox – shared mound duties, combining to allow 9 hits and 6 earned runs, with 8 strikeouts, 4 walks, 5 wild pitches and 3 hit batters.
Dixon senior shortstop John Creamer had 4 singles in 4 at-bats, scoring 3 runs and driving in 2.
The game ended after 5 2/3 innings due to time constraints.
LONG BALL TIME
In the third-place game against Stoutland (the No. 2 team from the pool), Sanders – at designated hitter – delivered the big blow in the bottom of the second inning, belting a long solo home run over the scoreboard in left-center field (the team’s first-round tripper since May of 2024).
After scoring 3 runs in the bottom of the fourth frame and leading 6-2, Houston tallied 6 more runs in the bottom of the fifth with a rally including 5 hits, 3 walks, a hit batter and an error.
“We came out a little unfocused in the first couple of innings,” said HHS head coach Brent Hall, “but put things together and played much better to finish the game scoring nine runs in the last two innings.”
Nine different Diamond Tigers had hits in the contest, and five scored 2 runs apiece. Venn went 2-for-3 and smacked an RBI triple in the fourth inning, while Sanders banged a base hit in the fifth and also went 2-for-3.
Scantlin went the distance on the mound in the 5-inning contest, scattering 7 hits and allowing only 1 earned run, while striking out 6 and walking 1. He struck out the side in order in the top of the second inning.
Stoutland junior shortstop Jesse Dickinson went 3-for-3 in the game (all singles) and drove in a run.
“We need to cut down on some of the free bases that we give other teams with walks, hit-by-pitches and some errors,” Hall said. “But we swung the bat much better at the plate and consistently put the ball in play more. We continue to get better every game.”
Dixon went on to defeat Conway in the tournament championship game, 4-1, while Plato outscored Laquey for fifth-place, 20-11.
So far this season, the Diamond Tigers have collected 12 extra base hits (10 doubles, a homer and a triple) after notching 10 for the entire 2025 campaign.
Houston (3-2) hosts a home game against Seymour on Monday (March 30) and faces Liberty in the first South Central Association conference matchup of the season on Tuesday at Tiger Field.