Posted on Mon, May. 05, 2008

BASEBALL: Road goes uphill for area teams in playoffs

By DREW DAVISON

SPECIAL TO THE STAR-TELEGRAM

SPECIAL/BOB HAYNES/Bob Haynes

Paschal pitcher Hoby Milner throws towards the plate against Granbury.

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There are no easy match-ups at this point in the high school baseball playoffs.

At the Class 5A level, Mansfield Summit faces nationally ranked El Paso Socorro (31-2). Fort Worth Paschal meets El Paso Franklin, one of Socorro’s two losses this season is to Franklin. And, two area powerhouses, Arlington Martin and Southlake Carroll square off.

“We’re not worried about Socorro, we’re worried about us and what we do,” Summit coach Art Senato said. “We will not be intimidated. We’re going to go out there and play and let the chips fall where they may. I like to think we’ve played real good competition in our district that will have us ready to face as good as team as they are.”

Socorro, which is led by legendary coach Chris Forbes, has two stellar pitchers in left-hander Gabriel Aguilar (signed with New Mexico) and right-hander Bobby Mares.

Summit, though, had a strong offensive outing in its first-round sweep against Midland, scoring 28 runs, drawing 13 walks and collecting 21 hits. The Jaguars also have Dallas Baptist-bound pitcher Ryan Behmanesh.

Meanwhile, Paschal, which shared the District 4-5A title with Summit, doesn’t have it any easier taking on Franklin, a team that knocked out traditional powerhouse Lubbock Monterey in the first round.

The star on Franklin’s roster is left-handed power pitcher Josh Blanco, who hits 88-92 mph on the radar gun and will play under Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn next season at San Diego State.

To get his team ready to face Blanco, Paschal coach Stephen Smith said his left-handed junior varsity pitchers will throw batting practice from 45 feet out and “fire away.”

“They’re going to throw as hard as they can just to try and get my guys ready to face the big guy,” Smith said. “I think this series is going to be a pitchers’ duel.”

Other than Blanco, Franklin’s got another good pitcher, John Paul Haskins, the grandson of former UTEP basketball coach Don Haskins.

Paschal isn’t overmatched pitching-wise, though. The Panthers feature three left-handers in Hoby Milner, Tyler Nurdin and Arkansas-bound Geoffrey Davenport.

Finally, Arlington Martin knows what it’ll take to get by Southlake Carroll.

“We’re going to have to be on top of our game,” Martin coach Curt Culbertson said. “Carroll is a very athletic team with a Southlake Carroll attitude. We’re going to have to play well.”

Carroll will look to starters Ethan Cunningham and Ross Stripling to carry it.

Keller confident: Keller, which won the District 5-5A title over Carroll and defeated Lewisville in the bi-district round, has a little easier road against Dallas Jesuit than Carroll does facing Martin.

“I would say that Jesuit presents a good challenge,” Keller coach Rob Stramp said. “I don’t think we’re going to pound people offensively because, generally, we’re not going to put up a lot of runs. But, if we get clicking, we’re capable of it. For Jesuit, though, hopefully coming from a district that was competitive top-to-bottom will translate to us playing well.”

Weatherford facing similar foe: Weatherford swept Odessa in the first round of the playoffs, winning two one-run games. And Weatherford coach Terry Massey sees a similar opponent this week in Amarillo.

“Amarillo has one real good pitcher that’s its ace and the next two are pretty decent, a lot like Odessa,” Massey said. “But the last three weeks, we’ve been playing our best baseball. We didn’t have a whole lot of varsity experience coming into the season, so it was good for them to get a taste of it. I think our district has prepared us really well.”

Arlington Heights’ tough draw: Winning the district title and earning a bye in the first round is generally a good thing. But Fort Worth Arlington Heights didn’t get any favors, drawing Keller Fossil Ridge, a team that went 15-1 in its district, in the area round.

“Right off the bat to face them is tough,” Heights coach Tommy Elliott said. “We’re ready to get going. This is what we’ve been working for since February.”

Heights did have a warm-up game against Waco Midway last week. Elliott said: “There were some positives that came out of that because guys that haven’t pitched much got some action. We kicked it around a little bit but that happens. The kids are playing hard, though, and will be ready.”

Kennedale stacking up: After its bye week, Kennedale meets Prosper in the Class 3A area round. And it’s looking more and more like it will be a one-game series scheduled for 7 p.m. on Thursday at Carrollton R.L. Turner.

“I think we’re pretty even teams but I’d give a slight advantage to us,” Kennedale coach Jet Teague said. “If you break it down on defense – equal; pitching – equal; hitting – we have the advantage there. But it’s going to be a good ballgame.”