Argyle loses heartbreaker to Magnolia West in Class 5A baseball championship
Magnolia West pitcher Caylon Dygert was one out away from twirling a two-hit shut out of Argyle, but an error gave the Eagles life and Argyle did what they’ve done all year...fight.
The Eagles closed to within a run in the bottom of the seventh, but a liner to center was snagged by the Mustangs’ Jackson Blank to end the game, 3-2, and give Magnolia West (36-5) its first state Class 5A title in its debut at the state tournament.
“That inning defined who we are as a team this year,” said Argyle coach Ricky Griffin. “You’re just going to have to beat us. If you relax then we’re going to come and get you.
“That’s the hardest ball maybe hit today and it just went right to a guy. If that’s in a gap then we’re the state champions and that’s how close it was.”
Dygert got a fly out to right and a ground out to short to start the bottom of the seventh. But a throwing error on another grounder to short by Hunter Sandifer went into the Magnolia West dugout moving Sandifer to second.
Brayden Rosckes singled to center pushing Jarret Waggoner, running for Sandifer, to third. Colton Roquemore hit a hard chopper to right to score Waggoner and cut the lead to 3-1, with Rosckes moving to third.
J.C. Davis came up and lined a single to left to score Rosckes and an error allowed Davis to wind up on second and Roquemore to pull up at third.
Grady Emerson’s sinking liner to center, however, was caught by Blank for the third out.
“I didn’t know that we would have the winning run on second and that Grady was going to hit a bullet to the center fielder,” said Griffin. “I didn’t know that, but I did want to see fight and I thought I would see it and I did.”
Both starting pitchers were stellar until Argyle’s Alex D’Angelo ran into trouble in the top of the sixth.
D’Angelo walked the bases loaded with one out before Blank, the championship game Most Valuable Player, ripped a single to right center scoring two. The ball was overran allowing a third run to score and Blank to pull in at second base.
“My approach at the plate was just to look for anything straight,” said Blank. “He (Alex D’Angelo) was doing a really good job of keeping us off balance all game. I got to three balls and one strike and was like ‘anything in the zone, it’s gotta be in the zone, I’m not going to chase, but anything straight I’m going to pound it over the second baseman’s head.’
“So I saw it coming in and that’s exactly what I did. I’m shaking right now it feels so good. We won’t forget this moment, the school won’t forget this moment, it’s just phenomenal.”
Blank is the son of former Arlington Martin star pitcher Matt Blank who won a state title with the Warriors 30 years ago in 1993.
Matt Blank, who pitched at Texas A&M in 1996 before appearing in 18 games with the Montreal Expos in 2000 and 2001, was the starter and winner on the mound for Martin in the semifinals and went 2-for-4 playing first base in the championship game, won by the Warriors 8-0 over Abilene Cooper.
Dygert (14-0) wound up giving up two runs (both unearned) in seven innings allowing five hits with two walks and two strikeouts. D’Angelo (8-4) took the loss for Argyle after 5.1 innings giving up four hits, three runs (two earned) with four walks and four strikeouts.
Argyle was making its sixth state appearance since 2014. The Eagles have reached the title game each season winning championships in 2015, 2018 and 2019 in Class 4A.
Argyle was the state runner up in Class 4A a season ago before moving up to 5A this year and repeating the feat.
“When we started the season I was worried about this teams’ mental toughness and at the end of the season they were maybe the most mentally tough team we’ve had,” said Griffin. “They were able to turn that around within a season and that’s how you win all those elimination games throughout the playoffs and that’s how you get people on and have a chance to win the game in the last at bat like right there. It’s a lot of mental toughness.”
This story was originally published June 10, 2023 at 5:00 PM.