We have reached the area round of the high school baseball playoffs.
Watch out for the King Mustangs. They have been a state-ranked team all season long. Right now, they are No. 8 in Texas. And their next game will be 11th ranked Sharyland.
There are many seniors on this King team. They are built to win now. And many of them will play college basketball next season so there’s a lot of talent on this squad.
The Mustangs have already won 25 games and they displayed a lot of resiliency last week.
After losing the opening game to Tuloso-Midway, the Mustangs roared back to take the next two games to win the series.
And, it’s not just their talent that has taken them this far.
“The mental game, I really think the mental part of this team has stuck out and has made a strong point in this ballclub,” said pitcher Jon Barrera, a Texas Tech signee. “Without the mental game, we can’t have that clutch hitting, the clutch pitching, and good defensive performance. So it’s all a mental game to us and we have all the right tools.”
Third baseman Jacob Garza, a Texas A&M-Kingsville commit, said the team’s post-season success isn’t a surprise.
“It’s what we expected, working on a deep run in the playoffs,” Garza said. “We had a good series against TM and luckily we came out on top. We lost the first game, came back and won the last two to win the series so it’s going well.”
King coach Gabe Perez has been pleased with how his team has persevered throughout the season.
“Not that it has been a long year, but this is the first time we have had district start from opening night and it’s been a grind all the way through,” Perez said. “The kids are ready to go and they have been doing this all year long and TM credit to them, they pushed us to the limit. Our hitting has been coming through and I think we are about to get hot.”
As their coach indicated, the Mustangs appear to be peaking at just the right time.
Here’s their upcoming playoff schedule:
H.S. BASEBALL PLAYOFFS
AREA ROUND CLASS 5A
KING VS. MISSION SHARYLAND
Game 1 – Friday at Sharyland, 7:30 p.m.
Game 2 – Saturday at Cabaniss, 2 p.m.
Game 3 – 30 minutes after Game 2 finishes, if necessary.
