Aledo heads to a baseball state title game for the first time since 2014
It’s been 11 years since the Aledo baseball team has played in a state championship game. That drought is over.
Aledo pitcher Devin Miller tossed a complete-game, three-hit shut out as the Bearcats defeated McKinney North 6-0 in Game 2 to sweep the Class 5A Division I series and earn a trip to Round Rock.
Aledo (33-8), No. 6 in the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association Class 5A state poll, will meet Spring Branch Smithson Valley (28-12) at 7 p.m. on Friday, June 6, at Dell Diamond for the title. McKinney North’s season ends at 19-14-1.
“Devin (Miller) has been our Friday guy all year and our Game 2 guy throughout the playoffs,” said Aledo coach Chad Barry, whose team shut out McKinney North 4-0 in Game 1 on Thursday, May 29. “What you saw from Devin today is pretty much what we’ve seen from him the last two years.”
Barry added that Miller is just a solid competitor with a three-pitch mix and does a great job of spotting his pitches.
“Our kids play very confidently behind him and they know that if they get a couple of runs then there’s a pretty good chance we’re going to win,” said Barry. “I think it helps them relax and they rally behind him.”
Miller didn’t get much run support early. The Bearcats score a single run in the top of the second inning, but nothing else until the sixth.
That didn’t seem to phase Miller in the least.
“It wasn’t really that nerve wracking because I knew my offense was going to catch up eventually,” said Miller, who is headed to Cal State Fullerton in the fall. “This team is outstanding and being part of this absolutely amazing run is just a pleasure...it’s a blessing.”
Miller finished with seven innings pitched allowing three hits, no runs, two walks, a hit batter and striking out seven.
In the second inning Luke Trager reached on an error on the first baseman, who lost the throw from the third baseman in the sun on Trager’s grounder. Trager raced to second on the play and moved to third on a lined single to center by Dylan Duran.
Nick Foster then executed a perfect suicide squeeze bunt to score Trager for a 1-0 lead. That held up until the sixth when the Bearcats added four more.
With one out in the sixth, seven consecutive batters reached base safely on three hits and four walks. Foster and Brennon Evans had bases loaded walks to drive in a run each and Brooks Burdine plated two more with ground single to right field that made it 5-0.
Trager, who went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI, made it 6-0 in the seventh when he drove in pinch runner Wilson Sehnem with a ground out to second.
Aledo lost in the state semifinals in 1980 in Class 2A as well as in 2015 in 5A. The Bearcats came home with the Class 4A state title in 2014.
“This is unbelievable and I couldn’t be happier right now,” said Brooks Burdine, who leaves for the Air Force Academy a couple of weeks after the state title game. “Three years on varsity and we’ve never come close to this. I’m not surprised that it’s this group to be honest.
“I’m just so proud of these guys and so happy to be going to Round Rock. We’re not going down to get a silver medal either.”
This story was originally published May 31, 2025 at 12:17 AM.