Onalaska wins regular season finale

By Clay Lilley

Onalaska Wildcat baseball wrapped up its regular season Tuesday night with a 3-1 win over the Shepherd Pirates. Jarrett Purkerson started on the bump for Onalaska and dominated the Pirates, throwing five fantastic no-hit innings, only walking two and striking out four.

The Wildcats capitalized on a couple of errors by the Pirates to score leadoff hitter Wyatt Reyes in the first inning. They added another run in the second, scoring Conner Ruiz on a passed ball to go up 2-0. In the fourth inning with the bases loaded, Thad Lilley picked up an RBI on a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Purkerson from third base, making it 3-0 Wildcats.

Shepherd scored their only run of the game in the final inning on a bases-loaded walk with Lilley pitching in relief, but that was all the Pirates could muster. The Wildcats collected their 17th win of the season and the Shepherd loss officially eliminated them from the playoffs. The District 23-3A final standings include Anderson-Shiro (12-2), Tarkington (12-2), Onalaska (11-3), Coldspring (8-6), Shepherd (6-8), New Waverly (5-9), Trinity (2-12) and Crockett (0-14).

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The Wildcats end their regular season with a 17-9 record, tying the school record for wins in a season that was set last year.

“I feel so blessed to be able to coach such a talented group of kids,” Onalaska coach Cody Pinkert said. “They have elevated the program so much in just a couple of years.”

Onalaska’s bi-district playoff opponent will be the East Bernard Brahmas. They finished second in District 24-3A with an 8-4 district record and 12-9 overall.

“East Bernard was a playoff team last year and just like us,” Pinkert said. “They have improved and added to their win total from last year. It should be a competitive series.”

The Wildcats and the Brahmas play a best-of-three series in Navasota next weekend, with Game 1 Friday at 7:30 p.m., Game 2 Saturday at 2 p.m., and Game 3 immediately after, if necessary.