Tribe leaders set for Cubs

By Dave Rogers
The Port Arthur News

When Taylor McInnis and Cody Mire were little, nobody could top them on a baseball field. Not on the pitching mound. Or at bat.

When they were in the eighth grade, they teamed up with current Port Neches-Groves teammates Cole Johnson, Matt Morgan and Blake Buchanan and won the 2002 Pony World Series.

When they got to high school, much was expected of them. And to hear them tell, they're plenty happy with the way things turned out.

"It's been a great (high school) career for me," Mire says. "I've accomplished many things. But there's still one thing that needs to be done."

That thing, he says, is a state baseball championship.

The No. 1-ranked team in the state, Brenham, stands in the way this week.

The District 18-4A champion Cubs, 29-2, are also ranked No. 6 in the nation by Baseball America. They own six state championships, the last coming in consecutive seasons of 1986, 1987 and 1988.

This is Brenham's 23rd straight year in the high school playoffs.

PN-G, the third-place finisher in 20-4A, brings a 14-16 record into the start of a best-of-three Class 4A area-round playoff that begins tonight at 7 p.m. at Sam Houston State.

"We feel we have some respect for Brenham," McInnis says. "We've always heard of them and how strong they are. They've always been a big name out there.

"But they're not better than us."

Mire agrees.

"We're going to have to prepare and be ready come game time," he says, "but that Crosby series will help us with our confidence."

Mire is coming off one-hit pitching and a grand slam home run in last Saturday's 14-0 win over Crosby to close out a bidistrict sweep of the Cougars.

McInnis has slugged home runs in three straight games for the Indians.

Blessed with good genes -- both players are 6-foot, 3 inches tall -- and imbued with a strong work ethic, sports success has usually come easy for this pair.

The 175-pound Mire was 20-4A newcomer of the year as PN-G's No. 3 pitcher when he was a ninth-grader. He started on the varsity basketball team as a sophomore.

While his buddy has always been skinny as a rail, McInnis, huskier at 217 pounds, has been a stalwart in the line for the PN-G football team, earning all-district honors at offensive guard the past two years.

Nerve damage in his right shoulder limited Mire's activity as a sophomore. He was a DH on the Indians' state tournament team in 2004.

A year ago, McInnis joined Mire on the Indian varsity. Mire was a first-team all-district pitcher, McInnis a second-teamer. But the Indians were quick outs in the playoffs, PN-G's 11th of 12 consecutive playoff berths and they looked ahead to this year.

"Any high school player's dream is to win a state championship," Mire says.

But until recently, when PN-G outscored Silsbee and Crosby by a combined 34-2 in three games, the Indians seemed doomed to come up short of expectations. The Indians struggled with a tough pre-district schedule, then lost five times in district action.

Not because of anything Mire and McInnis did or didn't do.

Mire is batting .353 and has a 1.46 ERA on the mound, playing shortstop when not pitching. McInnis has a lower batting average of .268, but he has a team-leading 23 RBIs and a 2-2 mound record.

For sure, Mire and McInnis never disappointed PN-G coach Jay Stone.

"Cody's had a career most people would love to have," the coach said. "His batting average for four years is over .300. And he's probably averaged eight strikeouts a game, and he has a low ERA.

"Taylor's had two great years on the varsity level."

McInnis has struggled some this year with a back injury, which first occurred while lifting weights for football.

"I thought this year would be my big blowout year, that I would hit home runs and do everything I wanted to do," he says. "I came down with the back injury early, but I'm coming around. I've hit a few home runs. I want to keep it up to help the team out the best I can."

But these guys don't have time to worry about what could have been.

"You can't look back on the past," says Mire. "You can only work with what you've got and how things are going now."

McInnis is ready.

"I and the team feel we have all the talent in the world to go as far as we want," he said. "We're ready to take on Brenham and move on."



***

The Cubs are led by third baseman Chris Andreas, who has a .500 batting average and 37 RBIs. Shortstop Colby Price is hitting .490 with 40 RBIs and Jason Gurka is batting .480 out of the leadoff spot.

Lefties Gurka (11-1, 1.06 ERA) and William Kankel (8-0, 1.48) and Shawn Pellerin (5-0, 1.84) top the Cubs' pitching rotation.



PN-G (14-16) vs. Brenham (29-2)

* What: Class 4A area-round baseball playoff

* When: Game 1, Wednesday, 7 p.m.

* Where: Sam Houston State, Huntsville

* How to get there: Take I-45 north to Huntsville; take right on exit 114 (two miles north of Sam Houston statue) onto Montgomery Road/Hwy 1374. Go right at Sam Houston Blvd; left at Sycamore Ave; go past two stop signs and turn left at Bearkat Blvd. Field is on the left.

* Series: Game 2 is set for 7 p.m. Friday at Conroe High School; Game 3, if needed, would be Saturday at 4 p.m., Conroe High School