Houston Christian heads west for hardware

By L. SCOTT HAINLINE
CHRONICLE CORRESPONDENT
Houston Christian is 2-for-2 in tournament championships this season and the Mustangs are out for more hardware this week in Phoenix, Ariz.
Coach Ron Mathis' red-hot club captured championship trophies at the Kingwood Tournament two weeks ago, and the Flower Mound Invitational last week in Dallas, and the 11-1 season start also featured a 5-4 victory against Lufkin, and an eight-inning 6-5 triumph over Westbury Christian in the season opener.
We're definitely pleased," Mathis said. We've faced a lot of good teams in a lot of close games, and things have been breaking right for us so far.
There's always a certain amount of luck in the game, and we've had some, but our guys have also played some very good baseball."
Third baseman Dustin Selzer has been the man at the plate with a .500-plus average and three home runs.
Shortstop C.J. Jarvis, second baseman Cody Mathis and outfielder Reid Bishop are .400-plus hitters, with outfielder Andrew Torres flirting with the .400 mark.
We were hitting .364 as a team through 11 games and that's the highest average we've ever had since I've been here," the 11th-year coach said. We expected to get some hits this season, but it's the pitching that's really been a pleasant surprise.
We have two players (Andrew Cecil and Konrad Koenig) who consider themselves full-time pitchers, but our other pitchers (center fielder Jacob Bravo, Cody Mathis, first baseman Patrick Kilkenny and outfielder Brian Parr) all consider themselves position players first, but they've done a great job on the hill."
Bravor owns victories against Westbrook and Flower Mound, and Mathis no-hit Rowlett last week and also beat Atascocita.
The Mustangs play six games in five days in Phoenix at the Arizona O'Connor Tournament beginning with a Monday twinbill
We're in a stretch of 10 games in nine days, so it's good we have some depth on the mound," Mathis said. It's a very competitive schedule and the players are excited about a positive start."
Houston Christian's next home game is at 7 p.m. on March 23 with Beaumont Kelly.