Kubat Tosses Complete Game as Pump Jacks Advance to TCL Championship Series

Published on August 13, 2012 under Texas Collegiate League (TCL)
East Texas PumpJacks News Release


If there's one thing that East Texas fans know after their team throttled the Alexandria Aces at historic Driller Park, it's that the Jacks will play for the TCL title against the Victoria Generals for the first time since 2010.

Also, the bullpen will be as rested as they can be, as Nebraska southpaw Kyle Kubat tossed a complete game, and the offense scored in three straight innings from the fourth to the sixth in a 9-2 Pump Jacks win.

The Pump Jacks started things off in the second inning, batting around against Aces starter Derek Vaughn. Taylor Murphy led off with a walk, and moved to second on a sac bunt by Logan Preston. After a strikeout for the second out of the inning, the Jacks hit not one, not two, but five straight singles. Louie Helmburg hit his to the left side of the infield, and after a passed ball moved him to second, Tyler Sullivan drove him in with a seeing-eye bloop down the right field line.

John Williams followed with a single of his own, and Trevin Sonnier hit a ground ball that took a bad hop on the shortstop to load the bases. Whitt Dorsey then delievered what would be the game-winning hit, a two-run single to center field to make the score 4-0 Pump Jacks after just two innings.

After being retired in order in the third by Vaughn (the only time all night that they would go down 1-2-3), East Texas scored again in the fourth. Helmburg singled to right, and was sacrificed to second by Sullivan before Williams delivered his third hit of the game, singling to center field to give the Jacks a 5-0 lead.

Alexandria would get a run back in the next inning, but the Jacks would respond when R.J. Santigate walked to lead off the fifth, and stole second. Santigate moved to third when the throw from the catcher was unable to be handled by the covering second baseman, and after Preston walked, Kevin O'Leary hit a sacrifice fly to right field for a 6-1 Jacks advantage.

The Pump Jacks then put the game out of reach in the bottom of the sixth inning. Helmburg led off with a walk and after a passed ball moved him to second, he was sacrificed to third by Sullivan. Williams then delivered a single over the drawn-in infield to bring Helmburg for a 7-1 lead. Two batters later, against reliever Joey Kaufman, Dorsey was hit by a pitch. Santigate then crushed a hanging breaking ball to right-center field for a triple, bringing both runners home to make the score 9-1.

The Aces would add a run on later, but the story of the game was Kubat, who threw 105 pitches and allowed only one earned run while striking out seven and walking only one. It was also his TCL-leading 7th win of the season.

Meanwhile the offense was paced by Williams, who went 4-for-5 out of the leadoff spot for East Texas with two runs scored and two RBI. Dorsey and Santigate also had two RBI apiece for East Texas, with Helmburg scoring three runs in the game.

The Pump Jacks will now face the Victoria Generals in the best-of-three TCL Championship series beginning Monday night thanks to the Generals' comeback 8-7 win over the Bombers in extra innings on Sunday. Because of overall record, the Pump Jacks will travel to Victoria to face the Generals in Game 1 before heading back home to play Game 2, and Game 3 if necessary, at historic Driller Park on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, respectively. The Pump Jacks will be seeking their first ever TCL title in a rematch of the last time the Pump Jacks played in the Championship Series in 2010.

First pitch for each game is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Fans can watch the entire series on the Pump Jacks' Ustream internet broadcast, which can be found by clicking the link on the left side of the Pump Jacks homepage, www.pumpjacksbaseball.com, or by searching "Pump Jacks Baseball" on the Ustream home page.

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Texas Collegiate League Stories from August 13, 2012


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