The Record Newspapers - Hometown News For Orange County, Texas

For the first time in 24 years the West Orange Stark Mustangs have reached the pinnacle of Region III baseball playoffs. This week the Mustangs take on Huffman-Hargrave for the regional championship and are now just one series away from the state baseball tournament.

The Mustangs advance after knocking out Carthage last week in the semi-final round. WOS dropped game one 9-0 but coming back and mopping up with game two, 7-3, and winning the round, 4-0, in game three.

Grant Anderson is on the hill in game one for the Mustangs. RECORD PHOTO: Meri Elen Jacobs

Mustang pitching in game two by ace Aidan Anderson and two home runs by Grant Anderson and Grant Lapoint-Teate stunned Carthage. Mustang team effort kicked-in again in game three with sophomore pitcher Jack Dallas on the mound. Dallas collected the win on the hill for the complete game shut-out victory. The Mustangs had punched the ticket to become a challenger for the Region III championship this week.

WOS faces the Huffman-Hargrave Falcons who downed Center in the first two games of their semifinal round, 3-1 and 13-4. Huffman had knocked the Bridge City Cardinals out of the playoffs two weeks ago in the quarterfinal round but it took them 8 innings to secure a victory in the single game contest.

The Region III championship series between the Mustangs and Huffman will take place at Lamar University beginning Wednesday at 7 p.m.. Game two will take place on Thursday at 5 p.m., with game three, if needed, to follow.

Photo - WOS Mustang slugger Grant LaPoint-Teate smacks a home run game two. RECORD PHOTO: Meri Elen Jacobs