It’s time for the stretch run for Magnolia baseball.
The Bulldogs will start the said run at the top.
Coming out of its bye week, Magnolia is alone in first place in District 15-6A and is the lone unbeaten team.
Magnolia (11-4-1, 4-0) carries a three-game winning streak into this busy week as it plays a pair of games with Klein Cain before starting a series with Klein Forest Saturday afternoon.
The Bulldogs kept sharp with one non-district game last Tuesday, an 8-6 win over College Station.
The Bulldogs didn’t use either district starting rotation pitchers against the Cougars as Aiden Luscombe, Braylon Hobbie and Jacob Neely combined on 10 strikeouts, led by Luscombe’s six in four innings. The senior didn’t allow an earned run. Neely went 2 ⅔ innings with three strikeouts and two earned runs.
Chase Lowery was 2-for-4 with four RBIs while Eli Holseth added two RBIs.
Klein Cain (6-6-3, 3-1) comes to Magnolia Tuesday having played the same two district opponents the Bulldogs swept. The Hurricanes have won three straight game – one against Klein Oak and then a sweep of Tomball Memorial last week. Klein Cain outscored the Wildcats 16-1.
The Hurricanes began the season 1-5-1, but more recently are unbeaten in seven of their last eight, including two ties in tournament play.
Game 2 of the series is 7 p.m. Friday at Klein Cain.
The following afternoon, Magnolia travels to Klein Forest (3-12-1, 0-6) at 1 p.m.
The Golden Eagles have really struggled in district sweeps against Magnolia West, Klein and Klein Oak. Klein Forest has scored just four runs in those games, three of which came in a 7-3 loss to Klein on March 11.
The Golden Eagles have dropped 19 straight district games dating back to winning their opener against Waller last year. In this decade, Klein Forest has just two district wins.
Magnolia has a little bit of history against both opponents this week.
The Bulldogs and Klein Cain have met four previous times, including a 7-5 win last February. Jordan Enyart, Holseth, MJ Watson and Karson Dupre all had RBIs that game. Magnolia is 3-1 all-time against the Hurricanes.
This will be the first meeting with Klein Forest since 2020. Magnolia is 12-1 against the Golden Eagles since 2007 with the lone loss coming 13 years ago.
Magnolia senior MJ Watson (23) throws the ball against College Station last week. (Noah Mabry/SportCast Media)
