In state championship, Aledo set to play for something ‘bigger than baseball’
In the UIL Texas high school baseball Class 5A Division I state championship, Aledo will aim for program history as it plays for its first back-to-back titles.
But for the Bearcats, the trip to Round Rock has meaning far beyond the baseball diamond. At 4 p.m. Friday, the team will take the field at Dell Diamond for a game against Lake Creek that will mark the culmination of a season dedicated to Brayden Martin, a 14-year-old baseball player who attended Aledo Middle School. He died in an ATV accident on May 20.
“The community is really hurting,” Aledo baseball coach Chad Barry said. “A lot of times when tragedy strikes, the community looks for something positive to help kind of ease the pain that everybody is going through.”
After a Game 1 state semifinal win over McKinney North, Aledo players wore blue ribbons to support the Martin family and held up a sign that read, “One team. One town. Go Bearcats.”
Barry said he expected Martin to attend Aledo High School and eventually become a Bearcat; in a town with one school district and high school, he was on the same path the vast majority of current varsity baseball players were on four years ago, when they were middle-schoolers eager to play for the Bearcats.
“Anyone who comes up to Aledo can play for the varsity team if they just put their mind to it,” Aledo outfielder Wilson Sehnem said. “And Braden could have been on his way to do that. It was just so sad that he was gone too soon.”
Because of his involvement in Aledo youth baseball, Martin’s death hit Aledo baseball close to home, according to Barry.
“A lot of the kids knew him because of his younger brothers and younger siblings,” Barry said. “We felt like [dedicating the season] was the right thing to do to honor his memory and his legacy. And to show support for the family, while we were still playing, and make sure they understood that even though we’re still playing in the playoffs, he is still at the front of our minds.”
How can Aledo honor Martin’s memory through the game? To Barry, one way to do it is by giving full effort for the community and your teammates.
“To go out and play the game how you know it’s meant to be played,” Barry said. “Play the game with a lot of heart and a lot of passion, just like the way Brayden did, and have fun while you’re doing it.”
Honoring Brayden Martin’s memory
Aledo senior infielder Jackson Loos, whose brother was close with Martin, said it’s important to honor his life and play for something “bigger than baseball.”
“There’s more to life than just baseball,” Loos said. “Having [his memory] in the back of our head was pretty big, and that’s what’s kind of carried us through that last round against McKinney [North].”
The Bearcats nearly missed their chance to end the state semifinal series in two games, and in Game 3, anything could’ve happened. Trailing 5-3 in the seventh inning and down to the final out, Aledo two-way standout Lucas Nawrocki hit a go-ahead grand slam to lock in the series win.
That swing catapulted Aledo to the title game and helped give them an opportunity to honor the life of Martin on the UIL’s grandest stage in Round Rock.
Sehnem said the years of playing baseball with teammates throughout childhood, playing for Martin’s memory, and chasing repeat championships make the state championship a “special opportunity.” He emphasized that as a kid, he looked up to the varsity players, and now he can see the next generation doing the same.
Sehnem emphasized that he can feel how the community pulls for Aledo baseball.
“And we knew that it was the least that we could do for him and his family in our community to show that we support them,” Sehnem said of Martin.
Playing for the community
When Aledo senior outfielder Kyle Poindexter signs baseballs for younger kids in Bearcat merchandise, he gets a sense of what community-oriented sports mean to the town — it’s at the heart of Aledo culture.
“It means the world to me,” Poindexter said of representing Aledo. “Coming out here and seeing everyone supporting us, all the younger generations coming out and watching us. Looking up to us.”
Martin’s loss reminds Loos not to take for granted playing the game and chasing program history with his longtime teammates.
“[A championship] would just be a good exclamation point to end, not only baseball, but high school,” Loos said. “And it’ll be one of the last times I’ll be with my friends and playing baseball with them.”
Win or lose, for seniors, it’ll be the last high school game of their career.
Poindexter said the team wants to respect Martin’s memory, provide a little positivity for a community that’s grieving and show that the Aledo community is in the fight together.
“We can really honor his memory through baseball by kind of respecting the game, but also respecting all the sacrifices our parents and everyone has made to get us to [the state championship],” Poindexter said. “And also respecting the people who can’t be with us anymore. ..
“Play for the town. Play for each other.”
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