Colleyville Heritage, Grapevine baseball advance to area
Successful programs are marked by what they have accomplished over a period of time. The Colleyville Heritage baseball team attained two goals from this past weekend’s Class 6A Region I bi-district win over South Grand Prairie.
The Panthers reached 20 wins for the eighth time. They also won their first playoff series for the fourth time in nine postseason appearances and the third in their last four.
Of course, the playoffs are about matchups and catching some breaks. In the past, Colleyville Heritage ran up against some tough moments. But the pendulum is swinging the other way.
“It’s the nature of high school sports,” head coach Alan McDougal said. “You really never know what you’re going to get. But we played some really good defense [the Panthers committed only one error in the series] and got timely hits. In a three-game series, the better team usually wins.”
The Panthers (21-2) won the opener 6-0 but lost the second game, 2-1. They won the deciding game, 5-0, at Quick Trip in Grand Prairie. They advance to the area round against Keller. As of Monday morning, playoff details were pending.
Colleyville Heritage should have its pitching lined up to face the Indians, who will have a far deeper lineup than SGP did. Keller, which won District 5-6A, will be favored. The Indians advanced to the 2015 6A Region I finals before falling to Arlington Martin. However, Colleyville Heritage did win the only regular season meeting, 9-1, in the Lubbock Monterrey tournament.
McDougal will have to decide if he will go with senior right-hander Tyler Merrick or junior right-hander Michael Stanford in the opener.
“They’re going to have to have three to four Division I hitters in their lineup,” McDougal said. “We can’t give them free bases or beat ourselves because they have the potential to make us pay for it.”
Grapevine update
Coming off a sweep of Denton in the Class 5A Region I bi-district round, the Mustangs (25-3) ran their winning streak to 21 and are preparing to play Granbury in the area round starting Thursday. All of the games will be played at White Settlement Brewer High School.
Thursday and Friday’s games are scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. A deciding third game would begin at noon on Saturday.
Don’t look for head coach Steve Hutcherson to do anything different with his pitching rotation. When there are quality arms in left-hander Kyle Flamm and right-hander Connor Neuman, there is an unbridled amount of confidence.
In the run-ruled five inning series opener, Flamm threw a complete game allowing two walks while striking out four. Neuman clinched the series by also throwing a complete game He allowed three hits. He didn’t allow a walk and struck out nine.
The Bronco offense only had one runner advance to second base. Catcher Tanner Gibson threw out three others trying to steal.
“They both threw extremely well and had a great command of everything,” Hutcherson said. “Connor was much better in the final three innings than he was in the first four. He was just getting stronger.”
Senior shortstop Ty Jones enjoyed a huge series going 5-for-6. Neuman also collected multiple hits in each game. Joe Leal also had three RBIs.
About Granbury
The Pirates finished third in District 8-5A and defeated Fort Worth South Hills, 6-0, in a one-game bi-district playoff this past Friday. There is some power in the lineup that the Mustangs will have to account for.
“They’re a lot like us,” Hutcherson said. “It’s really going to come down to who plays better that weekend.”
Flamm is expected to pitch the opener followed by Neuman in the second game.
This story was originally published May 9, 2016 at 3:30 PM with the headline "Colleyville Heritage, Grapevine baseball advance to area."