Bullard and Hudson played on Bullard’s new baseball field on Tuesday night. (Brandon Ogden/Tyler Morning Telegraph)

BULLARD — Kolt Larsen hit a two-run home run in the top of the first inning and that held up as No. 10 Hudson took a 2-1 win over No. 12 Bullard for the District 18-4A title on Tuesday night at the new Panther Athletic Complex.

After the younger Larsen, a Houston commit, gave the Hornets the early lead, senior Nolan Larsen — a Stephen F. Austin signee — did the job on the mound, allowing just one run on five hits with seven strikeouts and two walks in seven innings.

After allowing the home run to Kolt Larsen, University of Oklahoma signee David Wilson held Hudson to just two hits the rest of the way — both singles by Cutter Warren. Wilson had 11 strikeouts and three walks in seven innings.

Chase Randall, a San Jacinto College signee, was hit by a pitch in the bottom of the first inning and moved to second on a single by Wilson. Nolan Larsen got Dylan Malone to ground into a double play and Reed Overbeek to fly out to center to strand Randall at third.

After no baserunners in the second inning, both teams had runners caught stealing in the third. Hudson stranded a runner on third base in the fourth inning. In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Panthers got two runners on with two outs, and Louisiana-Monroe signee Ben Coke beat out an infield single, and Tyler Lamberth scored from third to cut the score to 2-1.

Hudson had two runners in scoring position after Warren’s second ingle in the top of the fifth. Wilson struck out Kolt Larsen and got Nolan Larsen to ground out to first to end the threat. In the bottom of the inning, Ty Rigsby hit a one-out single and advanced to second on a balk. Randall singled, and Rigsby was thrown out at home trying to score. Nolan Larsen struck out Wilson to end the inning.

Wilson struck out five batters in the final two innings, including three straight after a leadoff walk to Easton Smith in the seventh inning.

Bullard was unable to get a baserunner in the final two innings as Nolan Larsen had two strikeouts in the sixth inning and one more in the seventh.

Randall, Wilson, Dylan Fowler, Coke and Rigsby all had a hit for the Panthers.

There were multiple professional baseball connections in Tuesday’s game. Bullard’s head coach is Robert Ellis, who pitched four years in the MLB and won a World Series with Arizona in 2001. Hudson assistant coach Wes Musick pitched five years in the minor leagues in the systems of Colorado and Houston, making it to Triple-A with the Astros in 2012 and 2013. In attendance was Brandon Belt, who played 12 seasons with the San Francisco Giants and won two World Series and one season with the Toronto Blue Jays (2023). Belt is currently a free agent.

Bullard (25-4-2, 7-3) will host Canton in a non-district game at 6 p.m. Friday. Hudson (22-6-1, 9-1) will face Henderson in the bi-district round of the playoffs next week.