A year ago, the Collinsville baseball team suffered a heart-breaking 4-3 loss to eventual state champion Harleton in the state semifinal round.
On Wednesday, the Pirates made sure that they didn't repeat that crushing feat. Behind the pitching of Rylan Newman and clutch hitting, Collinsville (39-3) punched its ticket to the state championship game with a 10-0 victory over Centerville at the Dell Diamond in Round Rock.
The game ended in the bottom of the sixth inning because of the 10-run rule. The Pirates faced Hawley in the title game Thursday morning.
"It felt great just to tack some runs on early," Collinsville coach Derrick Jenkins said. "After last year, losing 4-3, it felt good to put up that five-spot in the fifth inning. It was unreal, and just to grab one at the end was unbelievable."
Following a trio of three-up, three-down at-bats, the Pirates seized momentum in the bottom of the second. Newman led off the frame with a triple before Garrett Trevino blasted a pitch over the left field wall to put Collinsville on the board and give them a 2-0 lead that would not be threatened.
"I was in a slump these past two weeks," Trevino said. "To hit a homerun, it was crazy."
Jenkins believes Trevino's homer gave the Pirates all the momentum they needed. He also had a talk with his right fielder prior to the game.
"Garrett's been struggling a little bit, so I told him in the bus, 'hey man, you're a guy. Go trust yourself and have a great day,'" Jenkins said. "For him to hit a homerun and start that run for us. Once he did it, the whole team was excited."
Collinsville added two more runs in the bottom of the third. Reed Patterson led off with a single, Logan Jenkins was hit by a pitch and Jaxon Jenkins walked to set things up for Cash Morgan, who hit a sacrifice fly to right field so long that it allowed both Patterson and Logan Jenkins to score.
The score remained 4-0 until the bottom of the fifth. Jaxon Jenkins led off with a single, Morgan walked, Newman singled, and Trevino was hit by a pitch to drive in Jenkins.
Peyton Davidson's single sent Morgan across the plate, and Brandon Cantu - Newman's courtesy runner - scored on a wild pitch. Logan Carpenter capped the scoring with a two-run single to make it 9-0.
"We're so good 1-9. Everyone in our lineup can do some things," Derrick Jenkins said. "You can't take a break. When you're at this level, you can't take a break. It's so hard to pitch to. There's always a point in the game where we're going to put up some runs."
The Pirates put the game away in the bottom of the sixth. Logan Jenkins reached second base on an error to lead things off before Jaxon Jenkins and Morgan recorded back-to-back singles on bunts with Logan scoring on Morgan's hit to end the game.
"It feels amazing. It should've happened last year, but we just fell a little short," Trevino said. "This year, we definitely made up for it. It means the world to us. The work we've put in every day since freshman year. We've been working so hard. It feels great to compete here."
Newman threw just 68 pitches in Wednesday's win, which made him available to throw up to 42 Thursday if necessary. The UIL has a limit of 110 pitches per week for each pitcher.
Newman struck out six and surrendered just two hits in the shutout effort. Coach Jenkins spoke highly of his senior pitcher.
"Rylan's been that guy all year. It's unreal," he said. "Someone asked me today if Logan was going and I said, 'no, sir. Rylan Newman's on the mound.' We never wavered from that because we knew what he could do. He walked onto the mound and he was a stud."
Newman (2-3, 3B) and Jaxon Jenkins (2-3, BB) led Collinsville at the plate. Carpenter (1-2, HBP, 2 RBI), Davidson (1-3, RBI), Morgan (1-2, BB, SAC, 3 RBI), Patterson (1-3) and Trevino (1-2, HBP, HR, 3 RBI) also contributed.
With the short turnaround, Jenkins said that his team would be prepared for Thursday's championship game.
"We're ready to go," he said. "We worked out a plan and we've got everybody in place. We've got so many people here helping us with what we're supposed to do, so it's exciting to see."
