Baseball: Caney Creek must earn playoff berth

CONROE, Texas – The District 18-4A playoff race is going right down to the wire and the Caney Creek High School baseball team will have to earn its way in.

The Panthers (12-11, 7-4) shook off a 12-1 drubbing on Friday at the hands of Montgomery to defeat Bryan Rudder 3-1 on Saturday and maintain fourth place in the league standings.

Brandon Stegman hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning to lift the Panthers past Rudder. It was one of just two hits for Caney Creek. Morgan Mason had the other.

Panthers’ pitcher Kadon Simmons went the distance, throwing a four-hitter, to earn the win on the mound. He struck out three in his 85-pitch performance.

Simmons improved to 4-2 on the season and lowered his ERA to a team-best 2.33. He has 51 strikeouts in 51 innings so far this season.

The Panthers are at Magnolia (7-3) Tuesday, April 9, for a key district game. A win would push the Panthers up to third place. Caney Creek hosts Huntsville (4-6) at 7 p.m. Friday, April 12, and then visits Magnolia West (6-5) on Friday, April 19, in another big game to decide who gets into the playoffs and who stays home.

Caney Creek looks for more consistent play from Kyle Baird, who leads the team with a .325 batting average. Simmons, Adam Vento, and Dylan Enriquez are also hitting above-.300.