Houston seniors earn first varsity win over Colony

PALMER — Since Houston High brought back its baseball program four years ago, the Hawks have had success against nearly every team in the Southcentral Conference.

With one exception — the Colony Knights.

When it came to beating Colony, victories were just out of reach of the Hawks.

But on Monday, Houston sophomore Jace Taylor’s double over the reach of the Colony right fielder put the Hawks out of reach of Colony. Taylor’s two-run double highlighted a seven-run third that helped Houston earn a 9-3 win over the Knights at the Palmer Senior Field.

“We’ve beat every other team in our league,” Houston head coach Bill Kramer said after the win. “This is a good win for our program. The kids are real proud of it.”

Especially the senior class, Kramer said.

“It’s a big deal. We’ve been waiting four years to beat this team,” Houston senior Russ Ruta said. “It’s great to get Colony finally.”

Houston’s sophomore class helped give the seniors their first win over the Knights. Taylor and Jaden Sears each drove in a pair of runs during that seven run third.

“We’ve been waiting for those sophomores to get their bats alive,” Ruta said.

Colony held a 2-1 lead before Houston’s big third inning. Devin Elson led off the third with a walk, Greg Schmidt was hit by a pitch and Ruta singled to load the bases. Senior Scott Kramer drew a bases-loaded walk to drive in Elson and tie the score at 2.

Sophomore Chip Ruta followed with a ground out that scored Schmidt, the go-ahead run.

With two outs, Taylor stepped up to the plate and knocked a ball into the right field corner. That hit scored two runs and broke the game open for the Knigh ts.

Later in the inning, after Brad Fortin and Michael Malidore drew consecutive walks, Sears knocked in two runs with his single to center field.

“Smart hitting, smart at-bats,” Bill Kramer said of the inning.

With the big lead, Scott Kramer settled in and pitched a complete game for the Hawks. Kramer threw more than 100 pitches in the game, but the Hawks coaching staff felt confident about the senior starter.

“It’s not something we typically do,” Bill Kramer said of allowing pitchers to top the 100-pitch mark. “It was a warm night, he felt good.”

Bill Kramer said the senior has been throwing since January, and is ahead of where he was last year. This time last season, the pitcher would have been held to around 70 pitches, the head coach said.

Kramer fanned nine Colony batters, while walking only two.

“Kramer did a great job tonight,” Ruta said.

Houston took the early lead in the game when Sears singled and scored in the top of the first, but Colony answered quickly.

In the bottom of the inning, Jacob Butcher led off with a single and scored on Jonathon Boyer’s double. Butcher’s run tied the score at 1, and Boyer scored on an error to give the Knights a 2-1 lead.

Morgan McJimsey was able to pick up another run in the sixth for Colony, but Houston’s third inning was tough for the Knights to overcome.

“We dug a hole for ourselves and they took really good advantage of it,” Colony head coach Jordan Chadwell said. “Things kind of fell apart for us in that inning. It was a little bit of our doing, but Houston played pretty disciplined at the plate. We could have done things a little bit better, but I was pretty impressed with how they had a great approach at the plate.”

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.