2015 All-Orange County Baseball Team

Last updated Jun 16, 2015 12:0pm0

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All Orange County Pitcher of the Year Aidain Anderson

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All Orange County Defensive MVP Grant Anderson

For the first time all four of The Record’s area baseball teams competed in the same district. The Bridge City Cardinals, the West Orange-Stark Mustangs, the Little Cypress Mauriceville Bears and Orangefield Bobcats all became part of the newly formed Dist. 24-4A.

When baseball practice began way back in cold, wet January no one could have foreseen the amazing and surprising outcome of the 2015 baseball season. It was expected that the LCM Bears, the traditional baseball powerhouse in the former Dist. 20-4A would dominate the new district. The Bridge City Cardinals, as usual, were expected to field another playoff team. Then there was the WOS Mustangs and Orangefield Bobcats, were they would wind up was hard to determine, especially with the Silsbee Tiger in the district.

In mid-March the Orange County teams of Dist.

24-4A squared off in what would become a thrilling and surprising baseball season.

At the conclusion of district play, the Bridge City Cardinals would capture the district championship narrowly edging out the Silsbee Tigers who defeated Big Red in one of their two outings.

The Cardinals finished district 9-3 and collected their 24th district championship in 2015.

The LCM Bears would hand Bridge City one of their three losses in district action but struggled and would finish district 7-5.

The Bears finished in fourth place just below the West Orange-Stark Mustangs, also 7-5, but WOS secured a third place spot and a trip to the playoffs.

The Orangefield Bobcats finished district at the bottom of the pack.

Four months after the season began The Cardinals and Mustangs launched their post season campaigns. The Cardinals quickly eliminated Coldspring-Oakhurst in the bi-district round, then took-out Giddings in the area round. Meanwhile the Mustangs defeated Splendora in the first round and Navasota in area.

In the Region III quarterfinal round Bridge City faced a dominant Hargrave-Huffman in a one game winner-take-all playoff match-up. It was believed that a victory over the Falcons would clear a path to a Region III Championship for the Cardinals. Big Red put up a valiant fight dragging out the playoff round into eight innings before the Falcons prevailed 3-2 ending the season for Bridge City.

Meanwhile, the West Orange Stark Mustangs were accomplishing the remarkable. In their quarterfinal round they defeated Bellville and became the only Orange County team remaining in the playoffs. In the semifinal round series they shocked Carthage to advance to the Region III Championship against Huffman-Hargrave, the team that two weeks earlier eliminated Bridge City.

The Mustangs lost game one of the regional championship to Huffman 13-2 but came back to win the next two games, 6-0 and 4-1, to defeat the Falcons to win the Region III Championship. For the first time since 1991 WOS earned a trip to the UIL State Baseball Championships in Austin. A team that had seemingly come from out of nowhere and finished third in district was now at the pinnacle of Texas high school baseball and one of just four teams left playing in the state.

In their first appearance on the state stage the Mustangs delivered an 8-0 shut-out to the tournament’s No. 1 seed, El Campo in the state semifinal round at Disch-Falk Field in Austin. But on the next day, the Mustangs lost their battle for the UIL Class 4A State Baseball Championship to the Argyle Eagles 7-3. The Mustangs became the 2015 state champion runner-up-- an impressive achievement in a Cinderella season.

The Record Newspapers and TheRecordLive.com are proud to announce the 2015 All-Orange County Baseball Team. Our Most Valuable Player for 2015 is Univeristy of Texas signee Chase Shugart. The Bridge City Cardinal ace had 131 strikeouts with a .77ERA. Batting at 382 with 9 homeruns, five doubles and 27 RBI. Shugart led the Cardinals in 10 offensive categories.

The Record’s All-Orange County Coach of the Year is Shae Landry of the WOS Mustangs. In his fourth year as head coach he as transformed the Mustang baseball program to become a contender for the state championship.

The remaining three MVP honors on our team go to WOS Mustangs Aidan Anderson, Grant Anderson and Grant Lapoint-Teate for outstanding performances in their incredible 2015 season.

2015 All-Orange County Baseball Team

Most Valuable Player- Chase Shugart (BC)

Offensive MVP- Grant Lapoint-Teate (WOS)

Defensive MVP- Grant Anderson (WOS)

Pitcher of the Year- Aidan Anderson (WOS)

Coach of The Year: Shae Landry (WOS)

All-Orange County Team:

Pitchers:

1. Kyle Bergeron (BC)

2. Coby Roddy (LCM)

Catcher: Grant White (LCM)

Infielders: