For fun family entertainment take in the TimberHogs

Published 5:32 pm Friday, July 5, 2024

East Texas has produced a long and storied history of baseball at every level from little league to past Major League Baseball-affiliated minor league teams, and it’s time for local sports fans to check out the current show in town.

You’ll find the Piney Woods TimberHogs at the same White Oak City Park ballpark that usually hosts White Oak High School Roughnecks’ springtime baseball games, so it’s worth the drive for anyone craving opportunities to watch America’s Pastime and the Boys of Summer.

I have to get this out of the way real quick. Piney Woods is not a member of minor league baseball.

Instead, the White Oak-based program is playing a part in our country’s large summer collegiate baseball league scene that has provided longtime playing time for amateur athletes that still have collegiate-playing eligibility outside of their regular school year sports calendar schedule.

The latest opportunity arrived when the local TimberHogs became one of the six founding team members for Mid-America League’s inaugural 2024 season.

Mid-America League still has some work to do to draw the famous large crowds of both the Cape Cod Baseball League and Alaska Baseball League based on the Piney Woods’ 10-4 home win against Texarkana that I attended as a spectator on June 29. I don’t have an official count on that game’s attendance, but I will admit that I was surprised that there weren’t more fans since the town of White Oak has a great track record of supporting its other bat-and-ball sports within the local high school’s baseball and softball programs.

I guess it could’ve been the weekend of the game. It was a few days before Fourth of July after all.

Regardless, I saw enough from the product on the field that there’s potential for more fan and league growth down the line.

To start, there’s no denying the sports-crazed scene caused by East Texas fans during other parts of the year.

Our reader base now has another local team in Piney Woods to root for as it continues to heat up, and when it plays the regional rival Texarkana Rhinos.

It took some time for the local TimberHogs to find their footing because they were six games under .500 on three different occasions, but they have surged to seven wins in their eight games between June 26 and July 4, and leaned on their current five-game win streak to reach the .500 mark for the first time this summer with a 17-17 record.

Piney Woods has also moved into fourth-place in the competitive Mid-America League race because it leaned on its back-to-back victories against the current 17-16 Joplin (Missouri) squad on Wednesday and Thursday to move within a half-a-game of the Outlaws in the standings.

The TimberHogs have reached the halfway point of the season, and will play their 68th game on Aug. 10. They want to make up more ground and pass 18-17 Fort Smith during their current weekend series at Crowder Field in Arkansas, and ride their recent trajectory all the way to season’s end.

They were scheduled to launch their second half schedule with a matchup with the Marshals on Friday night before Saturday’s 7:05 p.m. event and Sunday’s 6:05 p.m. outing.

So far, the only league outlier has been the 25-12 Abilene Flying Bison, but they have even come back to Earth some during their current three-game losing streak. Rounding out the standings after the July 4thmatchups are 12-19 Texarkana and the 12-22 Sherman Shadowcats.

There’s also more local rooting interest because there’s a long list of Piney Woods’ players that competed for East Texas high school or college programs. Hyperlocal Easton Ballard (Spring Hill High School), Alton Gatson (Longview High School), Connor Cox (Longview High School), Jordan Hodges (Spring Hill High School), Colin Martin (Spring Hill High School) and Luke Land (Longview Christian Heritage Classical School) need no introduction.

Zane Holder is connected to Longview’s LeTourneau University and nearby Hallsville High School. Carson Blakeley has also remained in the region at Paris Junior College after his Hallsville High School tenure. Grayson Werth is another former Hallsville Bobcat.

White Oak Roughneck Tyler Puckett returned home from Paris Junior College to play at his former high school home stage.

The town of Kilgore has produced AJ Smith (Tyler Bishop Thomas K. Gorman Catholic School) and Joey Ott, while Zakary Jordan (Gilmer High School), Gage Goddard (Harmony High School), Cade Medlin (New Diana High School) and Big Sandy’s Jake Johnson are from other area institutions.

Carthage High School alum Noah Paddie is a part of the same Tyler Junior College program as Lukas Kahne Nolen.

And down in Nacogdoches, Carter Pursley (Alto alum), Cermodrick Bland (Nacogdoches High product), Giancarlo Maldonado, Karsten Fidler and Taven Hathaway have all been associated with Stephen F. Austin State University baseball.

So, whether you’re a baseball diehard, a proud parent of one of the players mentioned, or just enjoy fun family entertainment, set aside a couple hours over the next month to catch a Piney Woods’ game. Maybe I’ll see you there.