Baseball finals moved to Monday

Whitewater’s quest for a AAAAA state baseball championship has been delayed two days.

The final-round doubleheader originally scheduled for Saturday will now begin Monday at 3 p.m. at Whitewater because the Wildcats’ opponent, Houston County, has its graduation Saturday, according to Whitewater head baseball coach Rusty Bennett.

The Wildcats are 30-6 on the season after beating Greenbrier 5-4 Tuesday evening in the third and deciding game of their semifinal series. This is their fifth straight year to reach the semifinals and their second trip to the championship round (the first was in 2011).

“They’ve got a very good ball club,” said Bennett’s of this weekend’s opponents. “They swing the bats very well. It’s going to be a great experience for our kids to enjoy the opportunity but also to play to win.”

The Whitewater coach, who has not even posted individual statistics online for his players this year, declined to single out any players for their performances leading up to this point.

“We’ve talked all year long about not singling anyone out but just playing for each other, which they’ve done since day one and they’ve gotten the job done,” he said.

“We’ve gotten some outstanding performances from individuals but they’ve played as a team. To single out any of them would do an injustice to the others.”

Ten Wildcats players are seniors. Six are starting position players and the other four are pitchers.

If necessary, a third game against Houston County would be Tuesday at 2 p.m. at Whitewater.