Tomball Christian Warriors win TCAL 2019 state baseball championship
FRANKLIN, Texas—The Tomball Christian Warriors blanked Sherman’s Grayson Christian Falcons by a score of 8-0 to win the Texas Christian Athletic League’s state baseball tournament championship Friday at Franklin Ranch.
Junior pitcher Jordan Holland dominated Falcon batters, pitching his second no-hitter of the season. It was a sweet ending to Holland’s career on the Warriors mound, but only the first of two big events for him that day. His academic progress enabled him to graduate early, and he walked the stage to the delight of his parents Jason and Sharon Holland Friday evening. Warriors senior shortstop Pete Stockton joined Holland in winning a state title and graduating on the same day, with his parents Chris and Mary Stockton there to cheer both milestones.
RHP Jordan Holland scores to aid his successful no-hit bid.
The victory capped a dominating run through the 2019 TCAL state tournament for the Warriors, who swept through the three-game finals by a combined score of 39-1, ending each game by run rule. The Warriors opened the tournament with a 15-0 victory over Port Arthur’s Bob Hope High School Thursday morning, and came back that afternoon to rout Grayson Christian 16-1. Grayson Christian’s victory over Bob Hope on Thursday qualified the Falcons for a second chance at the Warriors in the championship game.
The Falcons kept the game closer on Friday, but Warriors outfielder Eli Young crushed a triple down the third-base line in the bottom of the fifth to score two runs. Young then crossed the plate on a passed ball to push the score to 8-0, ending the game by run rule.
Eli Young launches two-RBI triple in fifth inning of championship game.
Friday’s contest marked the third straight appearance for the five-year-old Warriors program in the championship game of the TCAL state tournament, but the first ending with coaches Philip Wilkins and Jim Cason holding the championship trophy. In the 2018 contest, San Antonio’s St. Anthony Catholic prevailed over the Warriors, while El Paso’s Faith Christian Academy frustrated Tomball Christian’s championship aspirations in 2017. The Warriors were district champions in 2016.
Coaches Wilkins and Cason founded the Warriors baseball program in 2015. Their now-graduated sons Ethan Wilkins and Jordan Cason played football for the Warriors at the time. Both joined the then-fledgling baseball team and contributed to the program’s growth and championship run.
L to R: Head coach Philip Wilkins, 3B James Watkins, SS Pete Stockton, coach Jim Cason, and RHP Jordan Holland celebrate Friday’s state-title victory for the Warriors.
Like their brothers on the Tomball Christian Warriors football team and sisters in the cheer program, all Warriors baseball players are homeschooled.
The Warriors entered the state tournament knowing it would be their last opportunity to claim the Texas Christian Athletic League crown. The Warriors are leaving TCAL at the conclusion of the 2018-2019 academic year. Next year, Warriors football will compete as an independent, while Warriors baseball will either play as an independent or part of a new high-school baseball league if formed in time.