Temple and Belton will try to get their district campaigns off to winning starts tonight against a pair of probable playoff contenders.
The Wildcats (5-8) host Bryan (12-2) at 7 p.m. at Hallford Field, and the Tigers (13-1) travel to take on Harker Heights (6-5) at the same time.
“We’ve come up short in about four games that we were in a position to win,” Temple coach Larry Haynes said. “Hopefully we can make something happen in this first district game. Like every coach says, everybody is 0-0 now.”
Senior left-hander Michael Lollman will start on the mound for the Wildcats, who have won one of their last seven after a 4-2 beginning. Haynes expects the Vikings to start senior right-hander Tyler Grygar.
“We’ve been working on our defense because lately we haven’t been making the routine plays that we were making in the first couple of weeks of the season,” Haynes said. “We’re going to need to make those plays because Bryan always has good team speed.”
Belton tore through its non-district schedule - its only loss was to Austin McCallum - with the dangerous combination of solid hitting and stellar pitching.
“This is probably the best start we’ve had since I’ve been here, but we’ve always looked at non-district as just preparation time,” Belton coach David Tidwell said. “Non-district records don’t mean much. But we are playing well, and I’d rather be 13-1 than 1-13.”
The Tigers, who are hitting .333 and sport a team ERA of less than 2.00, will start junior right-hander Nick Wright. Tidwell expects the Knights, who have been hampered by injuries, to start senior left-hander Korey Wacker - last season’s district MVP.
“I’ve been pushing this game since we started practice,” Tidwell said. “Our guys want to be district champs, and they know this game is big.
“When we play with intensity and focus, we play really well. I actually wish every game could be as big as this one, because our guys seem to play better in those situations.”
Note: Due to wet field conditions following weekend rains, there is a chance one or both games could be pushed to Wednesday. Haynes and Tidwell said decisions will be made early this afternoon regarding any schedule changes.
