Coppel Copperheads vs. McKinney Marshals- Picture by Donald J Boyles

The Texas Collegiate League Championship series came down to the top two teams in the league- the Coppell Copperheads and the McKinney Marshals. Coppell was the defending champions from a year ago and McKinney Marshals won it in ‘06. I was on hand for the games on Friday and Saturday. I was able to take pictures of both games. with a Link at the bottom of the article.

Coppell Copperheads is located NW of Dallas and NE of Fort Worth. They play all of their home games at the High School for the Coppell Cowboys. Coppell is one of the original 8 that started in the TCl back in the Summer of ‘04.

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Brazos Valley Bombers

Brazos Valley uses extra inning to force decisive game three tonight with the Mckinney Marshals.

The Marshals failed to eliminate Brazos Valley from the first round of the playoffs on Wednesday and will be forced to play a game three at home on Thursday at 7:05 pm.

Brazos Valley won a hard-fought, extra inning game 4-3, forcing the pivotal game three.

Brazos Valley took a 3-0 lead into the eighth inning behind the pitching of John Touchton and a two-run home run by Nick Anders. But the Marshals bats came alive against relieve Travis Dirk as they tied the game with three runs in the eighth.

Myrio Richard had a two-run triple and Jake Smith scored Richard on a fielder’s choice to tie the game.

Tickets for Thursday’s game three at Gabe Nesbitt Field will be $1, and fans will be able to get hot dogs for $1 all night as well.

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LHP Sam Strickland-Brazos Valley Bombers

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE

Bryan-College Station, TX (August 5, 2008) –

The Bombers hit the road for their first playoff game of the 2008 season, but not without some difficulties. The game was delayed for over an hour due to transportation issues and the Bombers were unable to recover. Sam Strickland pitched effectively for the Bombers but was unable to find any run support as the Bombers came up on the short end of the stick 5-2.

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Texas Collegiate League

The McKinney Marshals’ incredible season was highlighted by the selection of Myrio Richard, Michael Bolsinger and Jimmy Nelson for Player of the Year, Pitcher of the Year and Freshman of the Year, respectively. Stan Phelps earned Coach of the Year Honor, after leading the East Texas Pumpjacks to a 22-26 record in their inaugural season.

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Bombers game canceled in the 4^th inning due to inclement weather.

Bryan-College Station, TX (August 3, 2008) –

For the second straight season, the Bombers home finale was cancelled due to inclement weather. The game was cut short in the middle of the fourth inning, as lightning and an impending thunderstorm forced the umpires to call the game early.

Although the Bombers trailed 3-0 when the game was cut short, it will not be considered an official game since five innings were not completed. The game was a scoreless tie until the Marshals put three runs on the board against Cody Springer in the top of the fourth inning. With the bases loaded, J.B. Brown singled to center field to score Mike Walker to put the Marshals on the board first and then Nick Schwaner and Brown scored on two of four walks issued by Springer.

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Donnie Williams- Coppell Copperheads/Lousiana Monroe

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
Brian Watson pitches complete game shutout in his first game of the season.

Bryan-College Station, TX (July 30, 2008) –

In a preview of the first round of the TCL Playoffs, the Brazos Valley Bombers shut out the McKinney Marshals for a 3-0 victory. Making his first appearance of the summer, Brian Watson was outstanding, pitching a complete game shutout to earn the victory.

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Texas Collegiate League

First Round of Playoffs Set for Marshals

The McKinney Marshals begin the Texas Collegiate League (TCL) playoffs on Tuesday, August 5 in College Station against the Brazos Valley Bombers. The Marshals will return home to host the second and third (if necessary) games of the best-of-three series on Wednesday, August 6 and Thursday, August 7. FULL STORY

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#18 Nick Anders -Brazos Valley Bombers

Kilgore, TX (July 31, 2008) –

The Brazos Valley Bombers began their road trip to Kilgore in good fashion, defeating the Pumpjacks 8-6 to collect their second consecutive victory. The Bombers trailed 6-4 in the eighth inning, but strung together four runs to come from behind and take the lead. Steve Horlacher pitched two scoreless innings in his second game with the Bombers to pick up his first save in a Bombers uniform.

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East Texas Pump Jacks

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE

East Texas Pump Jacks fans saw something Wednesday night that they hope becomes more common in this final homestand and next week’s playoffs: A dramatic Pump Jacks win.

The Jacks beat the first-place McKinney Marshals, 3-2, when they pressured home an unearned run in the bottom of the eleventh inning. The win was the team’s fifth in six extra inning games this season and it halted a three-game losing skid.

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Paige Hodges- East Texas Pump Jack

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE

The East Texas Pump Jacks’ up-and-down inaugural season continue Tuesday night with a 5-3 loss at the hands of the first-place McKinney Marshals at Driller Park.

The defeat was the team’s third straight after winning four of the previous five games. The silver lining is that the Jacks should be poised to make another run, and with the playoffs around the corner, anything is possible.

Tuesday’s game was the first of a six-day homestand that will end the regular season. The TCL playoffs are slated to begin next Tuesday, August 5, and East Texas is guaranteed a spot. If the regular season were to end now, the third-place Jacks would host the second-place Coppell Copperheads at Driller Park in Game One of the first round on August 5. Should the Jacks streak through the remainder of the season and finish in second place, East Texas would have home-field advantage in the first round and host Game Two on August 6 and, if necessary, Game Three on August 7.

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Justin Murray

East Texas Pump Jacks pitcher Justin Murray is now an ex-Pump Jack.

Murray has signed with the Oakland A’s, becoming the first Pump Jacks player to turn pro in the organization’s history. The A’s drafted Murray in the 29th round of Major League’s Baseball’s First-Year Player Draft last month following his junior season at Kansas State.

The righthander had made five starts since joining East Texas a few weeks into the season, going 0-1 with a 4.45 ERA. Murray was third on the staff with 30.1 innings pitched and had allowed 28 hits for an impressive .237 opponents’ batting average. He struck out 27 and walked just five.

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Jake Smith- Univerity of Alabama and MiKinney Marshals- picture from Kelly Lambert/Staff

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE

McKinney, TX (July 26, 2008) –

The Brazos Valley Bombers managed just four hits in a 6-0 shut out to McKinney tonight, as they dropped their fourth consecutive game. Brazos Valley was handcuffed by the Marshals quartet of pitchers, Jeremy Heatley, Michael Bolsinger, Adam Scott and Joey Centanni. The Bombers will return to McKinney tomorrow to try to even up the series at 5:05 pm.

The Marshals scored three in the first inning on three hits and a Bombers error to take the lead. Trey Sperring, who was making his third start of the season, seemed to be struggling with his control early on but got back on track. He pitched well, but allowed four unearned runs due to a couple of errors. Jonathon Conrad pitched effectively in two innings in relief, but the Bombers were unable to get anything going offensively in the loss.

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J.P. Brown Picture from Pacific

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE

Once again the Marshals fell short at Coppell (20-19) as the Copperheads defeated McKinney (21-17) on Thursday at the Snake Pit, 6-5.

J. B. Brown (Pacific) blasted two home runs for the Marshals, driving in three of the five runs, but it wasn’t enough as the Copperheads cut McKinney’s TCL lead down to 1 and 1/2 games.

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Mike Sharp from Rolltide.com

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES

Another late comeback attempt by the Marshals on Wednesday was averted by the Copperheads for the second consecutive night, allowing Coppell (19-19) to beat McKinney (21-16) 8-6 and move to within 2 and 1/2 games of the TCL lead.

Coppell held an 8-1 lead going into the 8th inning, but McKinney was able to put up two in that inning and three more in the 9th, but it was still not enough.

McKinney starting pitcher Jimmy Nelson (Alabama) earned the loss pitching into the fifth inning but allowing five runs on five hits with four walks and four strikeouts.

McKinney’s defense was subpar on the evening as only three of the eight Coppell runs were earned. Errors by Jake Smith (Alabama), Nick Schwaner (New Orleans) and J.B. Brown (Pacific) were all costly.

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From Ben Krauss

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE

McKinney, TX (July 20, 2008) –

The Brazos Valley Bombers fell to the McKinney Marshals 5-1 today in a game full of frustrations. The Bombers struggled to get on base all afternoon against the Marshals’ trio of pitchers, Joey Centanni, Hunter Hill and Adam Scott and only managed three hits.

The game remained scoreless going into the third inning, but the Bombers were finally able to get on the board. Brian Nelson got things started by leading things off with a walk. With Chad Colbert at the plate, Nelson stole second and advanced to third as shortstop J.B. Brown mishandled the throw. Zach Grichor came to the plate next and grounded out to the second baseman, scoring Nelson to put the Bombers in the lead.

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