The fall national signing period opened Wednesday, and a number of athletes throughout the Big Country Preps coverage area either made their college decisions official at signing day ceremonies or have announced plans to do so in the near future.
Here’s a list of those area seniors and where they’ll be competing next season:
LAST WEEK: 45-8, .849
SEASON TOTAL: 464-122, .791
The regular season ends Friday night (if you can believe it) and there’s no better way to close things up than with No. 5 Class 2A DI Hawley (9-0, 4-0) at No. 1 Stamford (9-0, 4-0).
The winner will earn the District 4 championship and No. 1 seed heading into the playoffs, so much is at stake.
I’m leaning toward Stamford here for three reasons: First, the overall team speed of SHS is unmatched by anyone in the area.
Secondly, the Bulldogs have an intangible working here — specifically a last-second miracle touchdown scored by Hawley’s
Camden Ables from 45 yards out with 0:47 left in last year’s game.
OTHER 2024 ALL-BIG COUNTRY PREPS TEAMS
Our All-Big Country Preps Softball and Baseball Teams, released Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, are in place to honor those who achieved the most on-field success in 2024. It is off the field, however, where character, grit, and work ethic are often measured. And it is with our Big Country Preps All-Hustle Team that we wish to honor those players, male and female, who were (simply put) the hardest-working, best teammates in the area this spring.
This team isn’t about who the best baseball and softball players were.
The All-Hustle team honors effort, discipline, toughness, coachability and selflessness — traits that coaches wish they had in every player and upon which championships are built.
It is for that reason that this team is largely selected by area coaches and described in their own words.
Big Country Preps is now honored to present these individuals to you — the best team players (boys and girls) that the the Big Country had to offer during the 2024 season.
The players below are listed in no particular order.
Here are our superlative award winners for the 2024 All-Big Country Preps baseball team. For the rest of this year’s selections, click the links below.
Here are our first-team selections for the 2024 All-Big Country Preps baseball team. For the rest of this year’s selections, click the links below.
Here are our second-team selections for the 2024 All-Big Country Preps baseball team. For the rest of this year’s selections, click the links below.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are proud to release our 2024 All-Big Country Preps baseball teams.
Here, you will find our Rising Stars Team honoring the top freshmen and sophomores in the Big Country.
For the rest of this year’s baseball selections, please click the links below.
ROUND ROCK — After weathering an early storm to play Franklin even after six innings, the Brock baseball team had every reason to be optimistic about its chances of closing its time in Class 3A with its first state championship since 2006.
But a series of unfortunate events with two outs in the top of the seventh led to an unlikely three-run outburst for the Lions that proved to be the difference in a 7-4 loss at Dell Diamond.
The Eagles, who had rallied from early deficits of 3-0 and 4-1 to knot the score with a three-run bottom of the third, gave up runs in the seventh on a pop up behind the bag at third that landed fair by inches, a seeing eye grounder through the left side and a weak ground ball up the middle that second baseman Cam Harris got to, but couldn’t field cleanly enough to make a throw.
By the end of that sequence, Brock went from playing for a walk-off win in its final at-bat to staring at a deficit that proved too large to overcome. And the end result was the Eagles’ second state championship game loss in three years.
ROUND ROCK — After seeing each of its last two state tournament trips end with losses to Corpus Christi London, the Brock baseball team flipped the script on the Pirates on Friday.
This time, it was the Eagles who sent London home with a 5-2 win in the first of two Class 3A state semifinals at Dell Diamond.
Brock, which fell to the Pirates 7-2 in the 2021 semifinals and 16-13 in the 2022 championship game, never trailed Friday, scoring two runs in the top of the second before answering a two-run London sixth with a three-run outburst in the seventh to earn the win and advance to Saturday’s title game against Franklin.
ROUND ROCK — It took more than a month and 12 playoff games, but the surprising Hawley baseball team finally met its match Thursday at Dell Diamond.
Top-ranked Collinsville scored in every inning but one and got a stellar start from Logan Jenkins to down HHS 9-0, ending the Bearcats’ best season in program history one win shy of the Class 2A state championship.
The loss snapped a 13-game winning streak for coach Jamie Seago’s team, including an 11-game surge in the postseason that saw the Bearcats outscore six playoff opponents by a combined 82-25 margin.
ROUND ROCK — During an extended tenure at Ira, as both a football and baseball coach, Toby Goodwin has had a lot of good teams. Included on that list are several he felt were capable of winning a state championship.
On Thursday, just one day after making their state debut in either sport, both Goodwin and his Bulldogs finally reached that summit, downing Fayetteville 7-6 in eight innings to claim the Class 1A title at Dell Diamond.
The victory, which saw IHS record the final out with the tying run on third base, put a perfect bow on a perfect 24-0 season and left the Bulldogs’ longtime mentor emotional as he reflected on what his team had just accomplished and what it meant to a community that had been longing for so long to taste that level of success.
AUSTIN — The Hawley baseball team needed eight innings and contributions from almost every player in its lineup to extend its deepest playoff run in program history Wednesday at the University of Texas’ Disch-Falk Field.
But the Bearcats’ Class 2A state semifinal matchup with Flatonia ended the same way each of their first 10 postseason games did — with a check in the ‘W’ column.
After watching FHS rally from a 3-1 deficit to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh, coach Jamie Seago’s squad scratched across a run in the eighth and held on from there for a dramatic 4-3 victory, ending a hectic day that saw a morning storm in Round Rock force a venue change to the state’s capital.
ROUND ROCK — Ira’s Class 1A state semifinal game against Chester wasn’t always pretty Wednesday at Dell Diamond. But the good thing for coach Toby Goodwin and his Bulldogs is it didn’t need to be.
IHS was outhit 8-4, had three errors lead to four unearned runs and trailed 5-0 just three innings into its first-ever state tournament game. And when the Bulldogs did finally rally, they did the bulk of their damage with their bats on their shoulders, taking advantage of seven walks, two hit batsmen and two wild pitches on their way to a 10-5 win.
But in the end, the come-from-behind victory over a feisty Yellow Jackets squad was enough to earn the Bulldogs their first state championship appearance in program history. And that reality is as beautiful as Goodwin could have ever imagined it would be.
WEATHERFORD — The Brock baseball team cashed in on its scoring opportunities and kept Jacksboro from doing the same Saturday night at Weatherford College’s Roger Williams Ballpark.
In the end, that was the difference in a 9-3 win that clinched the Region I-3A championship for the Eagles and earned BHS its third state tournament trip in four years.
Coach Koby Page’s lineup scored at least one run in all six of its trips to the plate, while pitchers Cam Harris and Ethan Riley pitched around near constant base traffic to keep Jacksboro off the board until the seventh inning. And by then it was too late for the Tigers, who saw their season end one win shy of their first state appearance at 31-10-1.
SEMINOLE — The Hawley baseball team is headed to the state tournament for the first time ever after blasting New Home 8-2 in Game 2 of its Region I-2A finals series on Friday to secure a series sweep over the two-time defending region champion Leopards at Robert Ryan Baseball Field.
Facing New Home ace Logan Addison, the Bearcats came out of the gates firing, scoring seven runs in the bottom of the first to chase the Texas Tech-bound right-hander after just one-third of an inning.
That cushion was all starter Creed Ernst needed as he delivered five strong innings before handing an 8-2 lead over to relievers Gavin Olney and Alek Southerland, who closed out the win with a clean sixth and seventh.
LUBBOCK — Pushed to the brink of elimination by an emotional Game 1 loss to Canyon on Thursday, the Stephenville baseball team rallied from a 3-1 sixth-inning deficit to defeat the Eagles 5-3 in Game 2 and force a decisive third game Friday at Texas Tech’s Dan Law Field.
But the Yellow Jackets’ postseason magic — and a wildly successful 2024 campaign — ended with the rubber match, as Canyon responded with a 5-4 win in Game 3 to deny Stephenville its second state tournament trip in four years.
The finale, which saw the Eagles score two runs in the bottom of the fifth to break a 3-all tie, closed the books on an intense regional finals series that was ultimately decided by a single run. And in reflecting on the highly competitive three-game set, during which both teams posted identical run totals, SHS coach Justin Swenson said the Eagles were just a little bit cleaner than his team was over the two days in Lubbock.
GRAHAM — It took Brock almost five innings to score in Thursday’s opener against Jacksboro.
With the Eagles’ season on the line Friday night in Game 2 of the Region I-3A championship series, Brock erupted for six runs in the first inning.
With Evan O’Connor throwing strikes, that was more than enough as the Eagles forced Game 3 with a 7-2 victory at Steers Stadium. The Region I-3A title will be decided at 7 p.m. Saturday at Weatherford College.
SEMINOLE — Hawley left-hander Westyn Balch continued his postseason brilliance on Thursday, delivering his third complete game shutout in five playoff starts to pitch the Bearcats to a 2-0 win over New Home in the weather-delayed opener of the Region I-2A finals series at Robert Ryan Baseball Field.
Balch, who lowered his playoff ERA to 1.06 with the win, allowed just one seventh-inning hit to outduel New Home starter Ashton Lucio in a game that was delayed 3½ hours by a severe thunderstorm that produced baseball-size hail in nearby Denver City.
Taking advantage of a two-run rally in the top of the seventh sparked by teammate Alek Southerland’s one-out double to the left-center field gap, Hawley’s senior ace pitched around a leadoff single and a one-out walk in the home half of that inning to close the complete game gem with his 11th strikeout on his 113th pitch of the night. It came around 12:30 a.m., capping a tidy pitcher’s duel that took just two hours to complete.
What impresses Brock baseball coach Koby Page more than the raw power or speed is center fielder Sawyer Strosnider’s mental approach to the sport.
“He just has this continual drive to improve. He’s constantly thinking of ways to fix something or how he can be better,” Page said. “He knows where he wants to be, has a goal set in mind and is definitely driven to get there.”
Strosnider has enjoyed the kind of success you’d expect from a TCU commit during his senior year. He enters the Eagles’ regional finals series against Jacksboro batting .537 with three homers, 49 runs and 46 RBI.
In fact, Strosnider has accumulated more extra-base hits (31) than singles (27) and has reached base an astounding 63 percent of the time. When the 2024 MLB Draft begins in a couple weeks, it’s a decent bet Strosnider has his name called.
Here are the Big Country baseball playoff roundups for this week. Continue reading “BASEBALL PLAYOFF ROUNDUP: Four area teams still alive in hunt for state title”
STEPHENVILLE — The Stephenville baseball team has had plenty of bad luck this year during the postseason when it comes to weather delays.
Saturday afternoon, that bad luck continued at James T. Young Field.
As Seminole’s Marco Reyes’ stepped into the batter’s box with his team down 3-2 to start the seventh inning, the lightning alarms went off, leading to a lengthy delay of more three hours.
Once the game resumed, Stephenville saw a bloop single tie the game before Kutter Stone’s walk-off sacrifice fly gave the Yellow Jackets a 4-3 win, clinching their fourth consecutive trip past the Region I-4A semifinals.
CLEBURNE — Facing elimination after dropping the opener of its Region I-5A semifinal series to Argyle 12-0 on Thursday, the Wylie baseball team looked poised to even things up and force a deciding third game Saturday at the Cleburne High School baseball field.
But leading 4-0 after 5½ innings, the Bulldogs saw the wheels fall off in a five-run bottom of the sixth, leaving them on the wrong side of a heart-wrenching 5-4 loss and a two-game sweep at the hands of the Eagles for the second straight season.
The defeat marked the fourth consecutive year that Wylie was eliminated in the fourth round of the Class 5A playoffs, ending another successful campaign at 30-8.
SNYDER — One out away from celebrating a huge Game 1 win over two-time defending region champion New Home, the Stamford baseball team saw a tough break and a clutch Leopard rally extend the game to extra innings Thursday at Moffett Field.
About 40 minutes later, it was the Bulldogs’ hearts that were broken in a 4-1 loss to the Leopards that took nine innings and more than three hours to complete.
After forcing Stamford ace Christian Duran out of the game with a comebacker that resulted in a lower leg injury, New Home rallied on its final out to tie the game off reliever Alex Guzman. And the Leopards used some more two-out magic in the ninth, when Graham Stanford and Brazos Beck drew walks ahead of a three-run blast by Ryder Starkey for what proved to be the winning runs in an epic Region I-2A semifinal matchup.
SEMINOLE — The bad news for Stephenville is that the Yellow Jackets didn’t bring their absolute “A” game to the opener of the Region I-4A semifinal series with Seminole on Thursday.
The good news for the ‘Jackets is … neither did Seminole. And by the end of the evening, Stephenville had notched a 5-1 win to take the early series lead.
Mason Haynes was 3 for 4 with a double and an RBI and Wacey Dill worked five shutout innings to lead Stephenville (27-10-1) which can close the series with a win in Game 2 set for 4 p.m. on Saturday in Stephenville. Game 3 (if needed), will follow 30 minutes after Game 2.
Digital photos, prints and keepsakes may be purchased by clicking the link below. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
Digital photos, prints and keepsakes may be purchased by clicking the link below. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Bangs-Stamford regional quarterfinal baseball series (120 images)”
Digital photos, prints and keepsakes may be purchased by clicking the link below. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: May-Ira regional semifinal baseball series (77 images)”
Facing off with crosstown rival Abilene High in a winner-take-all Game 3 with a trip to the Region I-5A semifinals on the line, the Wylie baseball team wasted no time taking control Saturday, using a six-run first inning to build a lead it would never relinquish in a 14-4 win at McMurry University’s Walt Driggers Field.
The Bulldogs followed the big first inning with two more runs in the second to increase their early lead to 8-0, before relying on a wild — but effective — pitching performance to take the win home.
The Wylie trio of Tye Briscoe, Garrett Salada and Collin Bruning combined to no-hit the Eagles, pitching around 10 walks and two hit batters to keep AHS from ever clawing its way back into the game.
ABILENE — It took seven tense innings and three lead changes, but the Hawley Bearcats emerged as the victor from their Region I-2A quarterfinal series with area rival Albany — capped by a 6-5 win at Walt Drigger’s Field on Saturday.
Westyn Balch was 3 for 4 with two RBIs and Gavin Olney delivered 1.2 innings on the hill to pick up the win in relief as Hawley took the best-of-three series, 2-0.
The Bearcats (21-9) faced two deficits — 1-0 in the early innings and 5-4 after six full — yet managed to overcome both.
They now advance to face Ropes in the Region I-2A semifinals next week. Albany finished another successful campaign at 19-4.
Bangs scored four two-out runs in the top of the seventh inning on Saturday to force extra innings before Alex Guzman dropped a shot on the chalk down the right field line, scoring Brayden Jimenez, as Stamford took a 10-9 win to sweep the Region I-2A quarterfinal series at Hudson Wade Memorial Field on the campus of Abilene Christian Schools.
Stamford coach Steven Gould said Guzman’s series-clinching hit was perfectly placed.
“He’s a very patient hitter, got the count to 3-1 and knew they were going to have to pitch to him,” Gould said. “He put it right on the line and you can’t do any better than that. He came through in a big way at the plate.”
After two days of baseball, nothing’s been settled in the Region I-5A quarterfinal series between Abilene High and Wylie.
Playing in front of standing-room-only crowds Thursday and Friday at McMurry University’s Walt Driggers Field, the Eagles and Bulldogs split the first two games of the high-profile crosstown affair, with WHS taking a weather-suspended Game 1 by a 6-1 margin and AHS responding with a 7-5 victory in Game 2.
Those outcomes, both arrived at Friday due to Thursday’s opener being stopped by lightning in the top of the seventh inning, mean the first all-Abilene playoff meeting since 1996 will go to a decisive third game, giving local fans one more chance to pack Driggers Field for a winner-take-all matchup at 7 p.m. Saturday.
Stellar pitching and magnificent defensive plays aren’t always the norm at the small school level.
Someone forgot to tell that to the Bangs and Stamford baseball teams.
Stamford’s Christian Duran and Bangs’ Kenny Cole went toe-to-toe on Friday afternoon at Hudson Wade Memorial Field on the campus of Abilene Christian Schools as the Bulldogs eked out a 4-2 win in the opening game of their best-of-three Region I-2A quarterfinal series.
ABILENE — Fresh off one of the most dominant pitching performances in Big Country baseball history, Hawley ace Westyn Balch delivered another gem Friday, tossing a complete-game one-hitter to fuel the Bearcats to a 4-0 win over district rival Albany in the opener of a best-of-three Region I-2A quarterfinal series at McMurry’s Walt Driggers Field.
The senior left-hander took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, before allowing an infield single to shortstop Drew Siller. That would be the only hit allowed by Balch, who struck out 10 to pitch around an error and a pair of walks.
The victory puts the Bearcats one win away from a trip to region semifinals when the series resumes at noon Saturday at the same site.
CLYDE — Ira baseball coach Toby Goodwin was ecstatic when his team opened its Region I-1A semifinal matchup against May with five runs in the top of the first inning of Thursday’s Game 1 as the Bulldogs rolled to a 10-0 win at the Hanner Sports Complex.
The Game 2 encore left him almost speechless.
For the fourth time this year, Ira’s offense pushed at least 12 runs across the plate in an inning as the Bulldogs rolled to an 18-2 win to clinch the series. It was just one run off their best inning of the year, which they accomplished twice in eight days in mid-April. Thursday night’s outburst was also the 10th time this year that Ira had posted an inning with double-digit runs in just 21 games.
Before last week’s Region I-5A quarterfinal softball series between Abilene High and Wylie, two local teams hadn’t met in the playoffs since 2001.
With the AHS and Wylie baseball teams set to repeat the feat this week at McMurry’s Walt Driggers Field, the Eagles and Bulldogs will be snapping an even longer drought in their sport.
That opener of that series, set for 7 p.m. Thursday, will mark the first crosstown baseball game in the postseason since 1996, when Cooper edged Abilene High 6-5 in a one-game playoff on their way to the state semifinals. And with a trip to the region quarterfinals on the line, both the Eagles and Bulldogs are preparing for what promises to be a weekend to remember for local players, coaches and fans.
It was a special afternoon on Wednesday inside the Cooper and Wylie gyms as 15 local athletes from a variety of sports made their college decisions official in a pair of signing ceremonies.
Cooper had nearly all of the signees as 14 seniors signed for their future with their families, friends, coaches and community members filling the bleachers of Cougar Gymnasium.
At Wylie, meanwhile, Garrett Salada was the lone signee, taking a brief break from his prep for this week’s Region I-5A quarterfinal series against crosstown rival Abilene High to solidify his pledge to Luna Community College in Las Vegas, N.M.
In the category of Big Country feats for the ages, we offer this big, bold headline-worthy accomplishment from Hawley ace Westyn Balch, who last week pitched a perfect game — almost literally.
For those keeping score at home, here is how nearly perfect Balch was:
In the Bearcats’ 7-0 victory over Forsan in the Region I-2A area round, the senior left-hander yielded not only no hits and no baserunners; he struck out each of the 21 Buffalo hitters he faced. Furthermore, he threw 67 of his 76 pitches for strikes and had 32 swings and misses.
Digital photos, prints and keepsakes may be purchased by clicking the link below. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Brock-Clyde area-round baseball series (66 images)”
Digital photos, prints and keepsakes may be purchased by clicking the link below. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: May-Westbrook area-round baseball playoff (66 images)”
Digital photos, prints and keepsakes may be purchased by clicking the link below. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Jim Ned-Holliday baseball area round (43 images)”
The Abilene High and Wylie baseball teams passed their area-round tests over the weekend, each sweeping El Paso-area schools to earn a crosstown matchup in the Region I-3A quarterfinals later this week.
Abilene High took down El Paso Ysleta 5-1 and 12-1 to improve to 4-1 in the postseason, while Wylie knocked off Canutillo 2-1 and 9-5 to stay perfect in the playoffs at 4-0.
The series between the Eagles and Bulldogs is set for Thursday, Friday and Saturday at McMurry’s Walt Driggers Field.
Digital photos, prints and keepsakes may be purchased by clicking the link below. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Wall-Iowa Park area-round baseball game (65 images)”
ABILENE — The Brock baseball team put up two big innings around a near-five hour weather delay Saturday, and that was all the Eagles needed to secure a series-clinching 14-6 win over Clyde in the second game of their Region I-3A area-round series.
In a contest that took nearly eight hours and two venues to complete, BHS followed a six-run third inning with a seven-run fourth to finally take control of a series that was tight throughout to that point.
Brock, which defeated Clyde 3-2 in Game 1 on Friday at Weatherford College, led just 6-5 when the delay hit two batters into the fourth inning. But when things moved from McMurry’s Walt Driggers Field to Abilene Cooper’s Cougar Field almost five hours later, the Eagles exploded for seven runs off three Bulldogs pitchers to build a comfortable cushion it would preserve the rest of the way.
ABILENE — After a pair of thrilling 2-1 games to open their Region I-3A area-round series on Thursday, Jim Ned and Holliday shifted sites on Saturday to Abilene Christian University’s Crutcher Scott Field.
Both teams showed up with an offense ready to go as the Eagles took a 3-2 lead after the first inning before a two-out seventh-inning rally allowed Holliday to escape with a 6-4 win.
Holliday advances to face Brock in the regional quarterfinals next week.
ABILENE — Entering the bottom of the seventh inning with a tenuous lead after Westbrook had put up back-to-back three-run rallies to trim an 8-2 deficit to a single run, the May Tigers turned to Hagan Hester to slam the door on their one-game Region I-1A quarterfinal playoff with the Wildcats on Saturday at Abilene Christian High School’s Hudson Wade Memorial Field.
The senior left-hander did so … emphatically.
Tabbed with closing out a back-and-forth affair that had seen both games wrestle control and momentum away from the other over its duration, Hester needed just 11 pitches — 10 of those strikes — to put the finishing touches on a hard-fought 9-8 win and help the Tigers advance to the Region I-1A semifinals next week to take on unbeaten Ira.
“This was supposed to end differently.”
Those words from first-year Wall baseball coach Jeremy Gordon carried pain, anguish and heartbreak after his squad was upset 5-2 by Iowa Park in a Region I-3A area-round matchup Friday night at Abilene Christian University’s Crutcher Scott Field.
Uncharacteristic mistakes in the first inning, including twice not being able to turn what would have been an inning-ending double play, were the difference in the single-game playoff.
ABILENE — Needing a Game 3 win to clinch their Region I-2A bi-district series against De Leon and extend their season another week, the Stamford Bulldogs delivered a knockout blow Monday at Abilene Christian High School’s Hudson Wade Memorial Field.
Junior left-hander Caden Moreno was dazzling on the mound, while the SHS lineup took advantage of nine hits, six walks and seven Bearcats errors in a 10-0 run-rule victory.
The lopsided win closed what had been a tight series to that point, with Stamford taking Game 1 by a 2-0 margin on Thursday and De Leon edging the Bulldogs 4-2 in a lightning delayed Game 2 on Saturday.
Digital photos, prints and keepsakes may be purchased by clicking the link below. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Bi-District baseball playoff games in Clyde (61 images)”