New Waverly's Clint Brown pitched a two-hitter to help the Bulldogs beat Rudder 8-2 in the championship game of the inaugural Rudder Ranger Baseball Bash on Saturday.

Class 2A's 10th-ranked New Waverly (12-2) built an early 5-0 lead and never came close to losing it in a game stopped after five innings because of the tournament time limit.

The loss dropped Rudder to 12-3 on the season but did little to dissuade first-year Rudder coach James Ward of any optimism surrounding his team, which has lost two of its last three games.

"Overall, it was a good tournament for us, the first year here to have a tournament," Ward said. "Coming in second, there's nothing wrong with that. It was a long day for everybody, and I wanted to leave it on the time limit. Kids need a little time."

A 4-3 district loss to Rockdale on Friday sets up a key District 24-3A home game Tuesday for Rudder against the Taylor Ducks, whom Ward coached from 1988-97.

New Waverly designated hitter Kody Coleman had two hits, two walks, stole two bases and drove in a run. The first hit came when he beat out a bunt to follow up shortstop Eric Koonce's two-strike leadoff single. Bulldogs' catcher Kyle Parkinson had a double to left to drive home the first two of his three RBIs.

Rudder had runners in scoring position in each of the first four frames but only managed to score in the second. Catcher Matt Smith walked to begin the inning, and Tim Deahl beat out a well-placed infield single. In his only plate appearance, relief pitcher Charleston Samuel stroked a double to left to drive in both runners.

But Rudder left the bases loaded to end the second inning, then stranded runners at third base in both the third and fourth.

"Getting down early didn't help us any, but we had opportunities to score and didn't come through like we needed to," Ward said. "I think we'll be all right come Tuesday night. We'll come back with a good frame of mind, and the kids are going to compete."

Leading 5-2, New Waverly nearly added to its lead in the third, loading the bases with two outs. But Rudder catcher Matt Smith picked off Amador at third to get out of the jam.

Rudder won its final pool play game Saturday morning, defeating Troy 7-3. Freshman Tyler Matcek went the distance to pick up the win. Will Johnson doubled and Kyle Danford was 2 for 3.

New Waverly 8, Rudder 2

New Waverly230 30 -- 8 9 2

Rudder020 00 -- 0 2 2

Will Johnson, Charleston Samuel (2), Blake Kopetsky (4) and Matt Smith. Clint Brown and Matt Parkinson. WP -- Brown (3-0). LP -- Johnson

Rudder 7, Troy 3

Troy210 000 -- 3 7 2

Rudder212 10x -- 7 9 1

Sebek and Gregory. Matcek and Deahl. WP -- Matcek. LP -- Sebek.