District 30-5A baseball hasn’t fared well against its bi-district opposition from the Coastal Bend in recent years.
All four playoff qualifiers from 30-5A have been swept in the opening round of the postseason two years in a row battling against a loaded 29-5A that features the likes of Corpus Christi Veterans, Corpus Christi Ray and Corpus Christi Carroll — three teams ranked in Texas High School Baseball’s Class 5A top 25 rankings.
This year, La Joya Palmview and Rio Grande City tied for the 30-5A championship and are determined to break the trend by punching their tickets to the area round this weekend.
“District champs is a good thing, but at the end of the day our focus is the playoffs. We came up short last year, so that’s all this team is focused on,” Palmview senior third baseman Gael Gonzalez said.
The Lobos (23-7, 12-2) open with a three-game series against Corpus Christi King beginning at 7 p.m. Friday at Veterans Field in Laredo. Rio Grande City (22-8-2, 12-2) is matched up against Corpus Christi Carroll, with Game 1 scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight at Rio Grande City High School.
FIRST-ROUND FIREWORKS
District 31-5A and 32-5A’s first-round playoff matchups deliver four Valley vs. Valley matchups.
Weslaco East (24-4, 16-2) captured its third consecutive District 32-5A title and enters the postseason as the district’s No. 1 seed. Its reward? A three-game series against McAllen Rowe, a team that reached Round 3 of the playoffs just last year.
The Warriors (20-11, 12-7) beat McAllen High on Monday to earn the No. 4 seed in 31-5A and are now set to face a Wildcats team determined to put together the program’s best postseason run in school history.
Edcouch-Elsa (17-11, 12-6) was one of two teams in 32-5A to defeat district champion Weslaco East in league play. The fourth-seeded Yellow Jackets will be up against the red-hot Sharyland High Rattlers (24-4, 16-2), who swept rival Pioneer to win the 31-5A championship during the final week of the regular season.
The No. 2 vs. No. 3 bi-district matchups pit solid teams against each other, teams that could easily go on playoff runs if they can get past their first-round opponent.
District 31-5A’s No. 2 seed Sharyland Pioneer (25-5-1, 14-4) spent the entire season ranked among the top Class 5A teams in the state before losing three games in a row late to miss out on the No. 1 seed. The Diamondbacks take on Harlingen South (20-9, 14-5) in a three-game series beginning at 7 p.m. tonight at Sharyland Pioneer High School in Mission.
District 32-5A’s No. 2, Brownsville Veterans (22-7, 15-4), and 31-5A’s No. 3 seed, Edinburg Vela (21-10, 14-4), also collide in a three-game series between RGV powerhouses. Game 1 between the Chargers and SaberCats is set for 7 p.m. Friday at Brownsville Veterans High School.
FOUR REGIONAL FINALS IN A ROW?
RGV high school baseball has been represented in the regional final round of the state playoffs in three consecutive seasons.
Sharyland Pioneer and Sharyland High did it in 2019, with the Diamondbacks topping the Rattlers to punch their ticket to state. The 2020 high school baseball season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Los Fresnos made it happen at the Class 6A level in 2021, and Sharyland Pioneer made its return to the regional final last year, falling short in Round 5 against Georgetown.
There are a handful of teams with the potential to make it four consecutive years for the RGV to have a team in the regional final round of the playoffs.
La Joya High (19-13, 9-1), Los Fresnos (25-6-1, 10-0) and PSJA High (21-7, 9-1) have been the area’s top Class 6A programs throughout the year. State-ranked 5A teams Sharyland High, Weslaco East and Sharyland Pioneer are likely favorites, but don’t be surprised if Brownsville Veterans, Edinburg Vela, Harlingen South and McAllen Rowe piece together deep playoff runs.
Meanwhile, 32-4A champion Hidalgo (16-8-1, 11-1) and 32-3A champ Lyford (20-7, 8-0) are entering the postseason with momentum on their side.