By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
Four Metro-area teams have something to prove on the diamond this weekend.
After a week layoff at the end of the district season, Brownsville Veterans, Los Fresnos, Hanna and Port Isabel have all shifted attention as each club starts the bi-district playoff round today with a best-of-three series.
Brownsville Veterans, the District 32-6A champion, begins its series at home against PJSA North and Los Fresnos, the 32-6A runner-up, also begins its series at home against Weslaco High. Hanna, the 32-6A fourth-place team hits the road to face District 31-6A champion Edinburg North. Port Isabel, who shared the District 32-4A title with Hidalgo, begins its postseason against Kingsville King at a neutral site in Sharyland. All games are slated for a 7 p.m. first pitch.
The Chargers have couple strong pitching and defense all season, but they haven’t scored as many runs as they would have liked to down the stretch.
Brownsville Veterans coach Eric Gonzalez said the team added another round of batting practice this past week to hopefully spark the bats against the Raiders because he thought that could be a key in the series.
“I think we have the defense from keeping guys from scoring a lot of runs, but we have to be able to score four or five runs to win the game,” Gonzalez said. “If we’re successful this weekend, it’s only going to get tougher, so we have to get the bats going.”
The Chargers head to PSJA North on Saturday for Game 2 (and Game 3 if necessary) starting at 2 p.m.
Brownsville Veterans is confident it can earn a repeat a trip to the area round like last season.
“I feel like we’ll do fine if we can score some runs with our pitching and our defense,” Gonzalez said. “But I want that first game. It puts the pressure on them.”
The Falcons are back in the postseason after a one-year absence. They seem to be playing with a slight chip on their collective shoulders after falling short last season. They start with a tough task against Weslaco High.
“We’ve scouted them and they’re very good,” Los Fresnos coach Rene Morales said. “They have a few pitchers that can throw and they are very aggressive at the plate. We’re going to do what we do and at the end of the seven innings, we’ll find out (how well we’ve played).”
The Falcons are on the road for Game 2 (and Game 3 if necessary) on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Los Fresnos have come together this season and it’s shown. The Falcons hope to get off to a good start against the Panthers at put pressure on the third seed from 31-6A this weekend.
“We have to believe in what we’re doing,” Morales said. “They’ve seemed to have carried it to another level … they are playing well together. They are a confident bunch of guys right now. They know they can do whatever they put their minds to.”
The Golden Eagles return to the postseason for the eighth straight season with coach Eddie Garcia at the helm. Hanna opens the tough task against the 31-6A champion Edinburg North. Hanna looks to make up for the scoring opportunities it missed during the season.
“It could boil down to one play, one at-bat, one opportunity,” Hanna coach Eddie Garcia said. “We have to bring our ‘A’ game. Their record speaks for themselves, they’re solid.”
Hanna is on the road for Game 1, but play host to Edinburg North for Game 2 (and Game 3 if necessary) on Saturday at noon. The Eagles hope to steal a road win before wrapping up at home.
“We can’t get caught up in the moment, we have to play solid and put everything together,” Garcia said. “If we get some timely hits, we have a shot. We learned from last year, we have to pick it up a notch; it’s win or go home.
“Getting Game 1 would be great, but that’s only half of the cake, we need to finish. Game 1 is big to set the tone (for the series).”
Port Isabel, fresh off earning a share of the District 32-4A title in 11 years, look to stop its recent trend, advancing beyond the first round of the playoffs. They’ll play all of their games in the series at Sharyland High. It’s going to take a good effort against Kingsville King.
The Tarpons are the home team for Game 2 (and Game 3 if necessary) against the Brahmas. The little things will be the key against Kingsville King.
“We have to hit the ball and play defense; just basic fundamental baseball,” Port Isabel coach Robert Holland said. “We have to be confident and play like we’re capable of playing. If it’s a close game, we have to know the situations.
“(We) know what they have to do, they just have to go out and do it.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.