When the Lions knocked off Bremond in the area round of the Class A state baseball playoffs last week, it marked the first time in program history that Granger made it past the second round.
Now the Lions (19-8), champions of District 27-A, hope to build on history as they take on Fayetteville (17-7) in a best-of-three Region IV quarterfinal series in Bastrop beginning at 7 p.m. today. Game 2 will be at 5 p.m. Friday and Game 3, if needed, will follow 30 minutes after.
“Our kids have been working hard and spending hours in the weight room every day since August,” Granger third-year coach Stephen Wisdom said. “We are going in with a lot of confidence. We definitely aren’t overconfident, but we feel like we are playing good baseball right now.”
In fact, Wisdom said he was more concerned with last week’s area series against Bremond. Not only were the Tigers a solid hitting team, but the Lions hadn’t been tested in some time.
“Because of the way our district (27-A) fell, we ended up with four open dates and didn’t play a lot of district games late,” Wisdom said. “We scheduled some non-district opponents against some good teams in there, but you never really know how aggressive the kids are going to play.
“Plus, since we won district, we had a bye in the opening round of the playoffs, so it seemed like it’s been a long time before we played a game that meant something.”
The Lions responded well, sweeping Bremond 6-2, 7-5 in Moody. Their reward is a rematch against Fayetteville, which knocked Granger out of the playoffs last season in a three-game bi-district series. But the Lions aren’t thinking about revenge.
“We haven’t talked about them,” Wisdom said of Fayetteville. “We are just focused on what we do. I think we are a much better team this year. We brought back that entire team and are hitting the ball better, and we have more depth at pitching.”
Wisdom said it likely will be a game-time decision as to who starts each game on the mound, but the top candidate for the opener is staff ace Alec Wade. Kenny Sifuentes, the ace in 2007, is the likely Game 2 starter.
Wade, who plays third base when not pitching, paces the team in batting average and Jason Finn leads the Lions in on-base percentage.
But the series likely will come down to pitching, and Granger seems to hold the advantage. Fayetteville’s best pitcher from last season graduated, while Granger has depth in its staff.
“When we say depth, it’s a bit different from large-school depth,” Wisdom said. “We may have a guy ready to come in, but he is playing center field, not resting in the shade or getting warmed up. And in games like we had last week, where it’s 90 degrees and humid, the key will be to keep some guys rested and ready to go.”
The Granger-Fayetteville winner will advance to next week’s Region IV semifinals to play the victor of the La Pryor-D’Hanis series.
mhood@temple-telegram.com
