BY SAUL BERRIOS-THOMAS | STAFF WRITER
In Mission, when fans talk about the Patriots’ dynasty, they aren’t referring to Bill Belichick’s team. They’re talking about coach Casey Smith’s Mission Veterans baseball team.
Mission Veterans picked up a 5-4 win over Sharyland High on Tuesday to clinch the District 31-5A championship outright.
The program now has five district championships. Those five have come consecutively over the last five seasons, and all five have come under coach Casey Smith.
“It’s nice, obviously,” Smith said. “It is always tough to win a district championship. Our senior class has won a district championship every year they have been in high school. Not every one of those kids were starters or contributors, but just to be able to say that, it doesn’t happen very often. It’s hard to win a district title, especially when you have good, tough teams in the district like we do.”
It all started for the Patriots in their first tournament of the season. The Patriots hit the road to Georgetown to face some of the top teams in the state.
“I think to be your best, you have to compete at a high level,” Smith said. “Playing good competition creates that. We have good teams here in the Valley, but it’s nice to get out of the Valley and play good competition outside the Valley.”
The Patriots look at the tops teams in Texas as their competition. Players say they believe Mission Vets is among the best teams in the state. The Patriots will get the chance to prove it as they begin their playoff push with a bi-district series against Donna High beginning May 5.
Before that, though, they have one last game on the schedule. Mission Vets has earned the luxury of treating Friday’s game against Valley View as a tuneup for the playoffs. Smith says he will play some players who haven’t had as much playing time this season.
“We are probably going to treat it more like a scrimmage or a non-district game than anything else,” Smith said. “We will probably get a look at some of the other guys as opposed to our frontline guys. It’s really important, because it’s important to get those guys their work. It’s a good thing.”
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In a rematch of two of the best teams in the Valley, the stakes are high on Friday. PSJA High and Edinburg North both enter the game at 12-1 in district. The winner of the game will clinch the District 31-6A championship outright and be the top seed in the playoffs.
“It’s a big game. It’s a showdown we have been looking forward to,” PSJA High coach Marco Guajardo said. “It’s going to be a playoff atmosphere, and it’s going to be a great game. Especially against Edinburg North. We had a great game the first time around, and we have been looking forward to it.”
“This is what you play for,” Edinburg North coach Damian Gonzalez added. “I keep telling the kids, ‘You always want to be in a situation where you are playing for a title at the end of the year.’ The guys have definitely worked extremely hard all year to put themselves in this situation.”
For Gonzalez, who would be pitching was never in question. Senior Giancarlo Servin has been the ace all year. The Texas A&M-Kingsville commit has been as steady as a surgeon on the mound, with a 2.13 ERA and 70 strikeouts in 46 innings pitched.
“He’s been our guy the last couple years,” Gonzalez said. “Whenever we get into problems, he’s always done a good job of bailing us out on the mound. We had to bring him in the other day to help us out. He’s got two saves on the year. We have been trying to limit him on how much he’s pitching, obviously, because of the regulation now that we have on the amount of pitches a pitcher can throw, but also to take care of him at the next level.”
Servin pitched in the first matchup and struggled in one of his toughest starts of the year, although the umpire in the game wasn’t doing him any favors with an erratic strike zone. The Bears have that familiarity with Servin now.
“We did get to see Servin, and we have seen him in the past,” Guajardo said. “So, we know what he’s got. That’s going to help us a little bit, but he’s obviously really tough anyway. If he’s on, he’s on. We just have to do what we can to get on base.”
On the other end, Marc Castillo was on the mound for the Bears in the first game, but Castillo threw on Tuesday and will not be available to start. Instead, the Bears will throw their other top starter, sophomore Cheke Marroquin. In 33 innings, Marroquin has 49 strikeouts and a 1.06 ERA.
“He’s fired up for it,” Guajardo said. “He’s looking forward to it. He really wanted the ball, so I will give him that chance.”
The Cougars have yet to face Marroquin.
“I think that is a good plus,” Guajardo said. “They have scouted us, and they have seen him throw, but their hitters haven’t gotten the chance to see his stuff. That’s going to be a little positive for us.”
The district title would mean a lot to both teams. For North, it would be the third in school history and also the third in four years.
“We have two district title numbers up there (on the wall at our field), two out of the last three,” Gonzalez said. “One thing that this group has said is, ‘We want to be the guys that bring home three out of four trophies.’ One thing we have preached to these kids this year is that we definitely have a team that could make a very deep playoff run. I believe we have the pitching and the hitting, and we definitely have the defense. We have a lot of things in place.”
For the Bears, this would be the sixth district championship under Guajardo. They joined District 31-6A this year, coming from 5A, and Guajardo said winning the title in the first year would be a distinguished honor.
“It would mean a lot to win it,” Guajardo said. “Especially in this district, with these guys, because every game has been tough. It would show a lot about our team. It’s the great atmosphere. It’s just going to be great to have a chance to fight for that. Edinburg North is a senior ball club, and they have the advantage of experience, but our young guys, they don’t back down, and they have been fighting all year, and I think they will be ready for the task.”