They’ve rolled past opponents for gaudy season records, district crowns and into the fourth round of the Class 2A baseball playoffs.
All that likely ends tonight, in what could be each team’s toughest test of the season.
Second-ranked Rogers faces off against No. 10 Danbury in the opener of their 2A Region IV semifinal best-of-three series at 7 tonight at Weimar Veterans Park’s Strickland Field.
The Eagles (24-3) enter tonight’s contest winners of 22 of their last 23 games. The Panthers (26-4) can top that, winning 25 of 26, including 12 straight. Neither team has dropped a game against 2A competition.
“When you get to this point, everybody starts getting a little better,” first-year Rogers coach Keith Klaus said. “We went into the Hallettsville series knowing that they were pretty good. It’s the same for Danbury.”
Both teams enter tonight’s Game 1 coming off dominating regional quarterfinal sweeps.
Rogers run-ruled Hallettsville, needing just one inning over the minimum to complete 14-1, 13-3 wins. Danbury blasted Refugio 11-1, 15-2, ending both games after five innings.
Against that kind of competition, losing the focus that has driven the Eagles to this point could send them home for good.
“Now we know that if we have one bad game, we lose and we might be out,” junior Chance Marek said. “These teams are real good, so if you mess up, then you’re done.”
Danbury, the two-time reigning District 29-2A champion, has bashed opponents with a combination of red-hot hitting and stingy pitching.
The Panthers have outscored foes by an average of 11-2 and have four players (Scott Zimmerle, Garrett Zimmerle, Trey Noak and Dakota Sebesta) with six or more home runs. Danbury has a .347 average and has belted 37 homers.
“We have good at-bats,” Danbury coach Steve Davis said. “There’s no easy outs in the lineup.”
Senior left-hander Scott Zimmerle, the likely starter tonight, has been the Panthers’ workhorse.
He boasts a 12-0 record, a 0.59 earned-run average and has allowed 10 runs (five earned) and 19 hits while striking out 114 batters in 59 2/3 innings. In his lone playoff start, the 6-2, 190-pound Zimmerle tossed a five-hitter in Danbury’s 4-1 area-round win over No. 5 Riviera Kaufer.
“He throws pretty hard for a lefty,” Davis said. “He has great composure on the mound. It’s like having a coach on the field.”
Rogers is much the same, mixing a deep pitching staff with the ability to score runs in bunches.
Either Travis Perkins (7-1, 1.44 ERA) or Greg Mendoza (6-1, 2.42) will take the mound tonight for the Eagles, who have a staff ERA of 3.09.
Rogers averages 10 runs per game and has four batters (senior Cameron Doskocil, juniors Mendoza and Marek and sophomore Ryan Fares) hitting .450 or better. Four Eagles (Marek, Doskocil, Mendoza and senior Stephen Hines) have 30 or more RBI.
“They have it all,” Davis said.
Getting to this point - the Eagles’ third regional semifinal in the last four seasons- has been the goal. But it’s only one step toward the bigger prize Rogers believes is well within reach.
“Expectation is a big thing with kids,” Klaus said. “If they expect to do well and you stay focused, you’ll do well. If you reach a point, set a goal and you reach that goal, you become satisfied and things may end for you. Our body language says we’re not satisfied.”
NOTES: The Rogers-Danbury winner will advance to the regional final to face Bishop or Schulenburg . . . Five of the 10 teams ranked in the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association poll are alive in regional semifinals. Those remaining teams are Rogers, Danbury, No. 1 Holliday, No. 6 Shallowater and No. 7 Harleton. No. 3 Palmer, No. 4 Hawley and No. 5 Kaufer lost in the area round, and No. 8 Peaster and No. 9 Troy lost in the regional quarterfinals . . . . Rogers and Danbury are the only ranked teams remaining in Region IV.
rschneider@temple-telegram.com
