1A State Tournament Preview

Around the state, people were confused about this 1A baseball stuff.  Questions flew around twitter and a few forums such as how many teams would go to the playoffs.  Why would a team that finished last in district make the playoffs?  Do the 1A and 2A games count? The answers varied from district to district.  In my opinion, the 1A playoffs has been a success and these 4 teams are great examples of why it was needed.  Lets take a look.

Region I – Borden County Coyotes
If I was writing about any school in Region I other than the 12-4 Coyotes, I would be saying look out these guys are great. But I am writing about Borden County and I will say these guys are outstanding. I had them in the Top 25 of all 1A/2A schools before we split and started doing a straight 1A poll. What is interesting is they didn’t pick up a baseball until basketball was over. They made the State Tournament in Basketball this year. But with 8 returning starters including All State Senior Hunter Hones, and 4 First Team All District Seniors in Kale Yarbro, Braxton Coor, Jayton Lewis and Steven Carillo, baseball would be like riding a bike. It took a few weeks to hit on all cylinders but when they did, they took Regional I by storm. This is the deepest baseball run in school history having never been to the State Baseball tournament. Their previous deepest run was the Area Round. No strangers to success, they won the 2016 State Football title to add to 4 other football titles. Track had a great 2017 too with a 4X100 win and 2nd in the 4X200. If you see a coach grinning from ear to ear, its likely that is Coach Edwards. The pride he has for this group of young men is evident in everything he does.

Borden County will face Fayetteville on Friday at 12 at Dell Diamond.

Region II Abbott Panthers
Abbott is/was another team that was in the original Top 25 poll for a combined 1A/2A poll. Interestingly, Region II was the advocate for the Top 15 1A poll. Abbott was the natural for the top of the poll. A spot they never left for 3 reasons (1) A good showing in the Ponder tournament. Keep in mind that good does not always mean wins. (2) 27-3-1 record (3) 14-0 District record. Questions? Plenty of pitching has helped this group of seniors have a shot to be the first team in school history to win a baseball title. It would look nice alongside their 2015 State Football Championship Trophy. In 1985, Abbott made it to the State Semi-Finals, but no team has advanced to the State Final game nor won the title. Abbott returns 6 starters from the 2016 Bi-District Finalist team. Seniors Brent Mynar, Jace Kolar and Weston Cantrell bookend Juniors Matthew Urbanovsky, Brandon Brown, and Hunter Pope.

Abbott will face Union Hill on Friday at 9AM at Dell Diamond.

Region III – Union Hill Bulldogs
If you read the THSB newsletter, which you should, I have self-admitted that I know the least about Region III teams. The Bulldogs were 0-10 in district play (yes you read that correctly) and 9-13 overall (yes that one too). But don’t let that fool you. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. A tough district 18 schedule that featured Overton and Union Grove, ensured that Union Hill was primed and ready for the 1A playoff run. All 3 rounds were best 2 out of 3 and Union Hill was the best each round. They defeat Sulphur Bluff, Trinidad and Slocum along the way to the State Semi Finals. There are 5 seniors, 2 juniors, 5 sophomores and 3 freshman primed for the stage of Dell Diamond. They might be from my most unfamiliar region, but don’t go to sleep Friday or you will miss a good team that is an outstanding example of why the split in the 1A and 2A bracket is important.

Union Hill will face Abbott on Friday at 9AM at Dell Diamond.

Region IV – Fayetteville Lions
With 14-12 overall record and a 7-9 district record, the Lions don’t appear on paper as a team that could compete for a State Championship. Afterall, they didn’t even make the playoffs last year. They are an outstanding example of the importance of the 1A bracket. They not only compete, but dominated their playoff run through 1A losing just 1 game to a great D’Hanis team. They brought back 9 starters from last years team led by Senior Payton Hemmitt and a host of Juniors including Braden Rhode, Damon Gerik, Reid Kubala, Jacob Schley and Lyle Muesse. That’s enough upperclassmen to ensure they rank high in 2018. But even though they are “just a 1A team” they are no strangers to the stage. Longtime Coach Clint Yeager and his Lions won the 2012 State 1A Championship. Keep in mind, this was prior to the addition of 6A. The experience of Coach Yeager on the big stage and the history of the program should help calms those Dell Diamond jitters. If you see Coach Yeager ask him about the big stick the team is carrying around. I don’t know the entire story but I suspect there are plans are to add a couple more names and/or notches to it.

Fayetteville will face Borden County at 12 on Friday at Dell Diamond.