New Home baseball returns to state with an 18-6 game three win over No. 1 Tom Bean

ABILENE, Texas (KCBD) - Even though only 20 miles separate New Home and Ropes, both teams are making the six-hour trip to Round Rock to play for the state championship.

Two days after the Eagles punched their ticket to state, their district rivals to the east did the same with an 18-6 run-rule routing of No. 1 Tom Bean in game three at Abilene Christian University.

“It was a crazy series! I’m very proud of the boys, we found a way to win it. We came up with some clutch hits. The big thing was just separating balls from strikes and being able to take a walk when we needed it,” said New Home head baseball coach Brady Webb. “I know they were struggling. They were kind of short on pitching, we were kind of short on pitching and so we just told the guys we got to be the guys who handled that situation the best.”

The Leopards took game one Thursday with a 5-1 win before the Tomcats evened the series winning 6-5 in extra innings the next day. Come Saturday, the New Home bats started off hot as they scored all four innings where they batted. They opened the game with five runs each in the first two innings to gain a 10-0 lead. They also drove in two more runs in the third. Once the Tomcats reduced the lead to 12-6 in the third, the Leopards responded with an explosive six-run inning.

Coach Webb says the third game of this series was decided by the team with the best pitchers remaining.

“When you get in a pitching bind, sometimes they can get a little more high-scoring, but I do think a lot of those guys over there. I think they’ve got some really talented players. It’s never comfortable,” Webb said. “Today, we were up 12 going in there at the end and I’m still not really comfortable until that last out was made. I wasn’t comfortable because I know what they could do offensively, but I’m proud of our boys for getting it done.”

New Home will face the Iola Bulldogs 9 a.m. Thursday at Dell Diamond, looking to take care of unfinished business from last season when they fell to Centerville in the state championship game.

“I’m excited to go to Dell, and I think the boys are really going to have a good week of practice,” Webb said. “I think they’re focused. I think they’re going to be ready to go and they’re excited. We’re going to go down there and we’re going to play our best and see if we can end up on top.”

Both the New Home Leopards and Ropes Eagles are this week’s Extra Innings Team of the Week for the second time in the previous three weeks.