FREDDY GONZALEZ | Staff Writer
While other districts may already be nearing the halfway point in their respective seasons, the Lyford Bulldogs and District 32-3A are eager to get theirs started.
Especially for first-year Lyford head baseball coach Christian Cervantes, who has underlined the district title as one of the team’s main objective this season. The Lyford baseball program has not won a league crown since 1995.
“We had a tough loss to Falfurrias on Tuesday, which I think refocused the kids mentally,” said Cervantes. “The kids are excited and we want to compete for the district championship, which the kids made it one of our goals.
“A lot of the seniors this season have been at the varsity level since their freshman year and they want to leave their mark on the program.”
Another objective the team has set its sights on is making a postseason push further than just the first round. And despite the 15-4 non-district loss to Falfurrias, the game served as a test to the type of competition the team might face in the bi-district round.
“We as a team needed that refocus because in the end it’s about getting ready for the playoffs,” said Cervantes. “It’s not about non-district and it’s not about tournaments anymore. It’s about focusing on what is our goal.
“Is our goal to just make the playoffs or is our goal about getting to that second round of the playoffs? After that loss to Falfurrias the group is now itching to get to that second round, but in order to do that we’re going to have go through one of those teams – the Banquetes, the Bishops, the Falfurriases, the Corpus Christi Londons or Santa Gertudises.”
The Bulldogs begin their district season on Friday against Monte Alto at home at 7:30 p.m.
THE 32-6A BLUES: After starting the 2017 district season 3-0 with wins over Harlingen South (4-3), Brownsville Rivera (10-1) and Weslaco High (12-1), the Harlingen Cardinals have since hit a few bumps in the road on their quest for a conference title.
After allowing just five runs in their first three games, the team has gone 1-2 and yielded 29 total runs in its past three games against Weslaco East, Los Fresnos and Brownsville Hanna.
However, despite the recent struggles the team is still 4-2 in league action and just one game behind leader Brownsville Hanna, which is 5-1.
Alongside Harlingen at 4-2 are the Los Fresnos Falcons and the Weslaco Panthers. Just below are the Harlingen South Hawks, the Weslaco East Wildcats and the Brownsville Rivera Raiders, which are all tied with records of 2-4. San Benito sits alone at 1-5.