The Tigers want to turn the tables on the Panthers this season and advance without leaving their home field.
Belton will open the Class 5A baseball playoffs at 5:30 p.m. today when it hosts Pflugerville for a bi-district doubleheader at Tiger Field. If necessary, a third game will be played at 2 p.m. Saturday at Pflugerville.
The three-game series will be a rematch of last year’s first round, when the Panthers won a pair of home games over the Tigers by scores of 6-5 and 8-1.
“It’s Pflugerville. They beat us out last year. We want to take it to them,” Belton sophomore shortstop Shane Hoelscher said. “Last year we didn’t have the team to do it. It’s a totally different feeling this year.”
The Tigers (24-4) - seeded No. 4 last year - are the District 13-5A runners-up, while the Panthers (17-13) finished third in 14-5A.
Belton got the fortuitous schedule because the TAKS test prevented games from being scheduled for Thursday and both teams have players set to take the SAT on Saturday.
“I suggested that we play two on Friday, and Pflugerville agreed,” Belton coach David Tidwell said. “Then I won the (coin) flip to play the first two here.”
The Tigers are built around solid pitching and will rely on their slew of hard-throwing right-handers in the postseason.
Sophomore Dillon Newman (9-1, 1.94 earned-run average) will start the opener, followed by senior Jacob Phillipe (5-0, 1.68) in today’s second game. If necessary, junior Nick Wright (7-3, 1.47).
“Our pitching is better than it has been the last two years,” Tidwell said. “And once you get to the playoffs, everybody has good pitching. They wouldn’t be here if they didn’t.
“Pflugerville has a couple of guys who throw pretty hard, and then they have a lefty they put in there to mix it up.”
The differences in last year’s matchups were Belton’s inability to drive in runs in the opener - the Tigers stranded 14 runners - and Pflugerville’s pitching in the second game.
“They were solid all the way around,” Belton senior Cameron Arnett right fielder said. “They had it all.”
The Tigers hope people are saying the same thing about them this season. That’s why Tidwell stacked the regular-season schedule with 13 playoff opponents, 11 of which Belton beat.
“It seems like we were playing tournaments just a couple of weeks ago,” senior left fielder Paul Wilson said. “Now all of the sudden the playoffs are starting. The regular season went by really quick.”
And now the Tigers are prepping for an extended stay in the playoffs.
“I asked two of our seniors what their goal for the playoffs was, and they said they wanted to make it to the state tournament,” Tidwell said. “And that should be everybody’s goal.
“We’re coaching to make the state tournament. We’re not coaching to play just one or two rounds of the playoffs. We’re coaching to get them into the state tournament.”
NOTES: John Beck will see his first varsity action when he starts at third base in the opener. “We didn’t want to have Jacob play third for a whole game and then pitch the next one,” Tidwell said. “John had a great season on the junior varsity.” . . . Ticket prices for today’s games are $4 for adults and $2 for students. . . . The game will be broadcast on the Internet at lonestarsportsnetwork.com.
edrennan@temple-telegram.com
