WO-S 89

Aug. 31 Conroe Caney Creek=WIN Sept. 7 West Orange-Stark=LOSE Sept. 14 Houston Kashmere=WIN Sept. 21 OPEN Sept. 28 Central*=LOSE Oct. 5 @ Port Neches-Groves*=LOSE Oct. 12 Ozen*????--WHAT THE HECK--WIN Oct. 19 Dayton*=LOSE Oct. 26 @ Nederland*=LOSE Nov. 2 Lumberton*=WIN Nov. 9 @ Vidor*=WIN LC-M will go 5-5

Although baseball was and still is his Number One love, he participated in six-man football and basketball. He was talented enough in basketball to help the Bobcats win the school’s first-ever district championship in 1953 and earn a basketball scholarship to Howard Junior College in Big Spring, TX. “Those two years at Howard were the happiest of my life,†Anderson recalled while reminiscing last weekend. “We qualified for the National JUCO Tournament in Hutchison, Kan. and played against Lon Morris which had a player named Billy Tubbs.†Tubbs had a fabled coaching career in basketball and is the current athletic director at Lamar University in Beaumont. Two years later Anderson moved on to Sul Ross on a basketball scholarship where he completed his college eligibility and earned a degree in education. As fate would have it Anderson’s first coaching job was for his alma mater at Orangefield as a football assistant. But the fact the Bobcats lacked a baseball program still bugged him, so in 1960 he solved that dilemma. “We didn’t have a baseball diamond so we used a batting cage as a backstop and put the bases on the football field,†Anderson recalled. “The right fielder played on the other side of the fence. “We didn’t win many games that year. I remember Bridge City left-hander Joe Parkhurst pitched a no-hitter against us,†Anderson continued. “I think we had five more no-hitters thrown against us that year. But we finally had baseball at Orangefield.†Coach Andy as he was fondly referred to by his players was hired as the baseball coach at West Orange High School in 1961 and assisted Rex Ansley with the ninth grade football team for the Chiefs. “I believe I was the first losing baseball coach at West Orange with our 10-11 record,†Anderson chuckled. He pointed out that back in the 1960’s football was THE SPORT in high school and the football players had to run track in the spring and could practice baseball AFTER track. “But it was nearly dark by then and we didn’t have a lighted baseball diamond,†Anderson added. After receiving his Master’s Degree from Stephen F. Austin Anderson was talked into accepting an assistant principal position in the West Orange-Cove school district two years later and remained away from the baseball diamond for seven years. “Then one day head football coach Donald Jay asked me if I’d help him find a head baseball coach,†Anderson said with a smile. “I told him I already have—me.†Anderson began his historic reign as head baseball coach of the West Orange Chiefs and later the West Orange-Stark Mustangs in 1970 which ran until 1991 and resulted in a 444-222-4 won-lost record and a place in the Texas Coaching Hall of Fame. “It took several years to figure out what it takes to have a successful high school baseball program,†Anderson confessed. “J.B. Bearden was the junior varsity coach, but we had trouble finding a competitive schedule for those youngsters. So we began playing the varsities of smaller schools like Kountze and Kirbyville. “This really accelerated that part of the program because we were beating these school’s varsities and it really gave confidence to our freshmen and sophomores to be playing against upperclassmen and winning. “When these kids got to the Chiefs’ varsity they were not intimidated by anyone, especially when it came to the playoffs,†Anderson beamed. Anderson said there never was a day off from practice because of inclement weather. “We would work out inside the gym hitting whiffle balls and taking grounders with hard rubber balls or would put mats down in the hall and practice taking leads and sliding into base,†he said. “I learned a lot about coaching baseball by going to the state tournaments and baseball clinics and just talking to people affiliated with the game,†Anderson continued. “I developed a ‘small-ball’ philosophy to score one run per inning and then let the defense and pitching protect the lead,†he opined. “I also devised my ‘Triple Option of Baseball’ which appeared in the Texas Coaches magazine. “The basis of the Triple Option is when we have runners on first and third and less than two outs there are three ways to score the runner from third base: (1) Squeeze bunt (2) Hit and Run (3)Double Steal. The key is that the hitter MUST put the ball in play. When we score one run oftentimes we score more,†Anderson explained. Apparently Coach Andy’s system of play is productive because his den is loaded with photos of his championship teams, trophies, plaques and rings. Anderson would have total command of the action on the field from flashing all the signs from the third base coach’s box on offense to positioning the players on defense and calling ALL of the pitches during the game. “I used to count the pitches long before it came in vogue,†he confessed. “I didn’t want a youngster throwing too many pitches in a game. I called every pitch and signaled the catcher for the appropriate location of each pitch. “If I looked down I wanted a fast ball and if my head was turned the pitch would be a breaking ball,†he continued. “I was probably the first coach to call for a curve ball on a 2-0 or 3-2 count. But we practiced throwing those pitches for strikes EVERY day. “I had a couple of kids—Wade Phillips and Tony Dallas—who threw too many strikes. I had to call waste pitches,†he laughed. One thing that really bugged Anderson was a player sliding into first base after hitting the ball. “I would tell my players that if you could reach base faster by sliding than running through the bag, why don’t you see 100-yard dash sprinters sliding across the finish line?†Anderson said that when his program was really rolling along smoothly, he had trouble finding tough non-district competition that was willing to play his team. “I guess that’s why my teams had 222 losses, because we’d travel to Louisiana and play some of those big schools out of New Orleans, Lafayette and Shreveport,†he pointed out. “We’d go to Houston and play Bellaire coached by Ray Knoubloch or Deer Park coached by former Stark High coach Art Pettit. “We’d also ask Lamar to bring over some of the players who weren’t regulars and we’d scrimmage them. The same was true with McNeese when Triny Riviera was coaching the Cowboys. “I remember Lamar winning a 21-18 slugfest when the wind was blowing out in which Jason Woods pounded three home runs and Roderick Robertson hit two,†he recalled. “We won our share of those warm-up games, too. I think we were 6-3 in our games against McNeese.†Anderson couldn’t even begin to rate his former players, but he did have shortstop Andre Robertson who played for the New York Yankees, outfielder Bruce Aven who played with several major league teams and Jason Canizaro who played with the San Francisco Giants and Minnesota Twins. “Andre was our shortstop his sophomore year when we went to the state tournament in 1974 and was a four-sport letterman in 1976, excelling in football, basketball, baseball and track. He would practice his high jumping and broad-jumping on Wednesday and then go to the track meets on Saturday.†Anderson added. “Bruce was a hard-nosed player who gave 100 per cent on every play. He was always a tough out for the opposition, he continued. “Jason played on the 1991 team that went to the state tournament. I think we would have won state if Jason hadn’t been slowed by an injury.†Anderson surmised. “Sam Moore was one of our best ball players. Curt Leger was one of the toughest catchers you’ll ever see in high school. His record of 11 home runs in 1982 lasted until Woods hit 13 in 1986,†he remembered without batting an eyelash. “Cory Gafford was the only high school catcher I’d ever seen that could throw out a potential base stealer at second base from his knees behind the plate,†Anderson pointed out. “He went on to play four years for Coach Jim Gilligan at Lamar.†“Jerry Caillier, James Long, Ray Pousson, Paul Richardson and Brian Huff, also come to mind. “And who can forget the game John Bulovas pitched and won against Northshore’s Brian Bohannon, who later pitched in the major leagues for several seasons. Bulovas was a fierce competitor,†he added. “If I had to pick the hardest-throwing pitcher to wear a Chiefs or Mustang uniform it would be John Patterson, who I didn’t have the pleasure of coaching but I watched him pitch many times,†Anderson interjected. “There were very few catchers who could handle him.†Today, Anderson is a 72-year old retired high school baseball coach who still lives in Orange and spends a lot of time, fishing, hunting and playing golf. “One thing I still look forward to and never miss is the Louisiana Class 5A State High School Baseball Tournament,†he explained. “It’s played in May while school still is in session and features eight teams instead of four like in Texas. I’m glad that high school baseball still is important in our neighboring state.†And high school baseball in the state of Texas also is better because of coaches like West Orange/West Orange-Stark’s Ronnie Anderson

WO-S is depending to much on B. Scott to score. She best get some major help in the 2nd half are it's going to be a long bus ride back if not to late already.

I might be wrong on this but the last freshman player to play on varsity as a starter for WO-S was Adrain Stein and that was late 80's

3 for 4 is not to bad bobcatfan

Did I hear right, that one of WO-S fan got tossed from the game by the Kenny Rogers look a like ref. :)

Hopefully WO-S and Orangefield can pull off wins and make KOGT Gary Stelly have to stay overnight to broadcast the Regoin III finals Saturday, THAT IS IF HE STILL HAS A VOICE AFTER FRIDAY NIGHT. Good luck girls.

Orangefield, WOS Back in Huntsville After Wins on Wednesday Friday: OF vs Diboll, 6:15 WOS vs Crockett, 8pm ON KOGT

Is this the biggest win in Dora The Explorer history.

Ouch, That's why you play the game on the court and not on paper.

Great job Lady Bobcats. Orange County is on a roll.

I can already hear it from the Silsbee posters that the only reason WO-S won is because the Tigers had a bad night. Now WO-S is 1-3 against Silsbee this year. Good game Lady Mustangs and Lady Tigers. B. Scott w/ 49 and J. Henderson w/ 18.

Scored 3 Touchdowns but they missed all 3 extra points. Must have a sorry kicker. :(

I would have Neumann in my top 5 list. Going to the play-offs for 11 years in a row as a 2nd and 3rd place team without winning a out right district championship makes him a better coach than Hooks. Yea right.

Do you promise.

Correction, I hope thier record is 30-1 after Friday.

Like Gary Stelly was telling me this morning, W. Columbia is 29-0 for a reason. I'm with Gary , they must be pretty damn good. Good luck Orangefield. I hope that W. Columbia is 29-1 Friday night.

I say for the next 2 years WO-S will not loss a district game making it 5 years without a loss in district. 35-0 :)I HOPE My picks in order 1. WO-S 2. Kirbyville 3. Silsbee

My little 6 year old boy plays. They play thier games at the Jr. high school gym.

Jason Woods, Rodrick Robertson, Kyle Free, Jeff Helms are a few Mustangs that come to mind.

I think WO-S will win. My prediction is 61-43

With a win over BC does the stangs make the play-offs.

La Marque years in the finals. La Marque (Nine) - 1986, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2003, 2006

At halftime, WOS leads BC 14-8