Coach Craig Coheley says they certainly were a reason why he took his current job.

Center fielder Marshall Coots says they’re soaking up their time together because they know it won’t last much longer.

So, who are they, exactly?

They’re eight Rogers Eagles baseball players who, with a few exceptions, have been teammates since they were about 10 years old - seniors Ricky Brenek, Braxton Byers, Coots, Drake, Chris Joshlin, Kory Michalka and Alan Valenzuela and junior Taylor Jungmann.

After this weekend, they’ll head in different directions. Some will continue their baseball careers in college, others will concentrate on school and one will remain in high school for another year.

Before that happens, however, they’re focused on taking the field together one more time - no, make that two more times.

The top-ranked Eagles (34-2) will play in their second straight Class 2A state semifinal against Blanco (27-8) at 1 p.m. Friday at Round Rock’s Dell Diamond. The winner will battle Hooks (28-8) or Pottsboro (27-7-2) in the championship game at 11 a.m. Saturday.

“Our main focus right now is to have fun,” Coots said. “We know it’s the last week our whole team will be together.”

The aforementioned eight Eagles became teammates for the first time as members of the CenTex Longhorns - coach by Coots’ father, Larry, and Jungmann’s father, Leland, in Temple Youth Baseball Association’s 10-and-under division.

Drake says they formed a good, cohesive group pretty much immediately.

“We knew we had something special from when we started,” he said, adding that the Longhorns won a USSSA national tournament in Marshall. “It seems like we’ve always been around each other and we’ve been on the same team together.”

Joked Coots: “I have a lot of fun memories even though we got yelled at by our dads.”

Valenzuela, who was 10-0 as a pitcher this year before he suffered a broken ankle two weeks ago, says the Longhorns enjoyed quite a bit of success at a young age.

“Every year we went to nationals, and we got to go play in St. Louis and Omaha,” said Hill College signee Valenzuela, who grew up in Temple and transferred to Rogers as a freshman. “A lot of times I think we’re more of a team because of that. We’ve developed a lot over the years.”

Late in the spring of 2003, Coheley was interviewing for the Rogers job when he heard about a talented class of incoming freshmen plus Jungmann, a promising eighth-grader.

“I came and talked to Coach (John) Stillwell (Rogers’ athletic director) and went to a little league deal at Flag Hall,” Coheley said. “Everybody there gave me all the information about this great group of kids coming in, and that’s one of the reasons I took this job.”

To say the Eagles have had some success since then would be an understatement.

In Coheley’s four seasons, Rogers has a 107-24 record, 14-0 marks in District 25-2A play the last two years, four consecutive appearances in the Region IV quarterfinals and back-to-back berths in the state tournament.

And each player in the group of eight has made a crucial contribution to this year’s Eagle juggernaut.

Right fielder and leadoff batter Brenek hits a team-best .429 and as a pitcher is 8-0 with a 0.67 earned-run average; shortstop and No. 2 hitter Byers bats .352 with 36 runs batted in and is tied for the team lead with four home runs; and catcher and No. 3 hitter Joshlin, who will play in the Texas High School Baseball Coaches All-Star Game, bats .412. He pitched 4 1/3 innings to beat Trinity and send Rogers back to the state tournament.

Cleanup hitter Coots, a Temple College signee whom Coheley calls the Eagles’ “funny guy and prayer guy,” bats .361 with three homers and 31 RBI; Valenzuela was the team’s co-ace (0.76 ERA, 116 strikeouts) and a .400 hitter with 37 RBI before he was injured; and Jungmann, who’s verbally committed to Texas, is 12-0 with a 0.44 ERA and 136 strikeouts and bats .373 with 25 RBI.

Third baseman Michalka has chipped in with 12 RBI and solid defense, and Drake has committed only one error as the regular left fielder.

For the Eagles, all that’s missing is Rogers’ first state championship in any sport. Coheley believes this team can be the one to make history because of how it gets along in addition to how well it performs.

“This whole team is comfortable with each other,” he said. “Rogers kids just pull for each other really hard.”

Drake doesn’t disagree.

“We have the best pitcher in the state and the best catcher in the state, and we know we’ve got to win at state,” he said. “If we do, it’ll be the best thing that’s ever happened for us.”

And it will have completed a journey that began long ago for eight kids who got together to play baseball.

gwille@temple-telegram.com