Aggressive at the plate, in control on the mound and now one step closer to regaining their perch atop the Class 2A baseball world.
Second-ranked Rogers needed just five innings to eliminate Hallettsville with a 13-3 win in Game 2 of their 2A Region IV quarterfinal series Saturday afternoon at Fireman’s Park.
It was a thorough display of dominance by the Eagles (24-2), who needed just one inning over the minimum to complete the lopsided series sweep and advance to a showdown with 10th-ranked Danbury in a Region IV best-of-three semifinal series next weekend.
“We just run-ruled a really good team twice,” senior Cameron Doskocil said. “We know we’ve got to keep working, though. We can’t sit right here. What we want is in Austin.”
Of course to win a state title, Rogers will need a little offense. For whatever reason, the Eagles seemed to lose their mojo at the plate in an area-round win over Blanco. They scored eight runs but something just wasn’t right.
First-year Rogers coach Keith Klaus figured getting that confidence back wasn’t a matter of if but when.
“I knew that sooner or later we’d get back out of it if we played long enough,” Klaus said. “The last two days we’ve done a great job hitting the baseball.”
On Saturday, Rogers pounded out 10 hits and scored at least one run in every inning, capped by a seven-run fifth. The Eagles got two-hit games from senior Dustin Hamilton and junior Travis Perkins.
For the series, Rogers tallied 28 hits and outscored Hallettsville 27-4.
“I believe we’re hitting the ball very well right now,” said Hamilton, who was 2-for-2 with two RBI and also reached on an error and a hit-by-pitch. “(Hallettsville’s Colby Schindeler) is a good pitcher . . . we laid back, hit the ball and did what we had to do.”
And what Rogers did was hit the ball hard, starting with Doskocil’s RBI double in the first inning and continuing until sophomore J.C. Garcia scored the mercy rule-invoking run on a passed ball.
The Eagles got an RBI triple from junior Chance Marek in the fourth and RBI hits by sophomore Ryan Fares, senior Stephen Hines and Hamilton in the game-ending fifth.
Rogers also benefited from mistakes by the Brahmas (19-7), scoring four runs on wild pitches or passed balls and once on an error.
Whether it was the long swine-flu layoff or simply an off night against Blanco that threw the offense off track, Klaus won’t accept excuses. The hits and high-scoring innings are back, and at just the right time.
“If you’re any good, you’ll get ready to play whenever it’s time to play,” Klaus said. “It’s a credit to our kids. They got ready and they did their jobs.”
In his first start of the postseason, Fares gave up three runs and five hits in three innings. He permitted at least two base runners in every inning but stranded four to keep the Eagles hanging around before the offense took over in a big way.
Marek replaced Fares in the fourth and gave up just an infield hit. He walked one batter and hit another.
“(Fares) did what I needed him to do today,” Klaus said. “A sophomore in a big series like this, he did a good job.”
The success at the plate is back, evidenced by the impressive series sweep.
The confidence, though, was always around. The Eagles just found a way to add to it.
“We’ve got good confidence,” Hamilton said. “When you’re ranked No. 2 in the state, you gotta have some kind of confidence. We’re not cocky, though. We know we’ve still gotta show up."
