Playoffs & Power 25 Updates
May 16, 2018
TEXAS, USA - With the Texas High School Baseball Playoffs in full swing and picking up steam, here are some thoughts on teams and matchups from around the state. Be sure to follow along on twitter and instagram for daily updates, stories, video and in-game scout notes.
Houston Dominates 6A Playoff Landscape
Out of the teams that are left in the 6A Playoff Bracket, 14 hail from the Houston Area, while only 5 DFW teams are still in the mix. The other 13 teams come from Austin (3), San Antonio (3), El Paso (1), Waco (1), Odessa (1), and South Texas (4). Needless to say, bragging rights for the state are leaning heavily toward Houston.
| Houston | DFW | Austin | San Antonio | Other |
| Conroe Oak Ridge | Keller | Lake Travis | Reagan | El Paso Franklin |
| The Woodlands College Park | Flower Mound Marcus | Round Rock | Churchill | Odessa |
| Montgomery | Keller Timber Creek | Stony Point | Madison | Waco-Midway |
| Klein Collins | Southlake Carroll | Vela | ||
| The Woodlands | Byron Nelson | Los Fresnos | ||
| Klein | Laredo Alexander | |||
| Katy Tompkins | McAllen | |||
| Cypress Ranch | ||||
| Atascocita | ||||
| La Porte | ||||
| Cypress Woods | ||||
| Cypress Fair | ||||
| Kingwood | ||||
| Clear Springs |
6A Power 25 Matchups
It has been a two weeks since we updated the Power 25 as we are waiting for the dust to settle in the playoffs before we update next week. There are only two series where both teams are ranked from the last Texas Power 25 update (4/30/18).
No. 19 Cypress Ranch will play No. 20 Katy Tompkins
Ranch has one of the top pitching staffs in the state (at any level). Ty Madden and J.J. Goss have anchored the rotation and held oppossing offenses in check. Katy Tompkins was not a preseason favorite, but the Falcons keep chipping away at teams that are picked ahead of them.
No. 1 Lake Travis vs. No. 6 San Antonio Reagan
No two teams have been as highly ranked as these two all season, each being in the top ten the whole year. Reagan has a group that has been there before, while Lake Travis has a strong core of Juniors with something to prove. If you are picking one series to watch, this is it.
4A & 5A Teams From Power 25
Our Power 25 Rankings are meant to rank the top teams in Texas, no matter the classification, with the idea being that there are plenty of quality teams at all levels of Texas High School Baseball. With that being said, a majority of the teams are from the 6A level, but we have also included a number of 5, 4, and even 3A teams at some point this year because of their overall record, strength of schedule, or just the sheer amount of talent they put on the field. All nine of the 5A/4A teams included in the Power 25 Rankings, are still in the playoffs.
No. 3 Colleyville Heritage
No. 8 Cleburne
No. 12 Prosper
No. 14 Kerrville Tivy
No. 16 Boerne Champion
No. 18 Magnolia
As well as all three 4A teams…
No. 4 Argyle
No. 10 Sweeny
No. 25 Godley
Crosstown Rivalries
Tomball and Tomball Memorial will face off this week in a three game set between two teams that are very familiar with each other. Separated by only 8 miles, Tomball (24-9-1) and Tomball Memorial (23-9) split their regular season contest with Tomball winning the first game 4-1 and Memorial taking the second game 11-8. I would expect this series to have a ton of energy, and we will most likely catch at least one of their games this week. They will play Thursday at Tomball at 7:30, Friday at Tomball Memorial at 7:30, and Saturday (if necessary) at 12 noon at Klein Oak HS. Keep in mind that No. 18 Magnolia won this conference and they tee it up against Georgetown.
No. 19 Cypress Fair (27-8) will play conference foe Cypress Woods (24-14). Cypress Fair is the district champion and they have done nothing but defeat higher ranked teams all year. Cypress Woods plays second fiddle to other teams in their league. Look for both teams to play with a chip on their shoulder. Cy-Fair won both regular season games.
San Antonio Churchill (21-8) and San Antonio Madison (23-12) know plenty about each other. Madison swept the regular season contest with two wins over Churchill (5-0, 8-7).
4A 1-Game Series
In the current UIL rules, a team can flip for a one-game series vs. a three game series, or both teams can agree to a one game series. Let me begin by saying that I am never in favor of a coin flip coming into play to determine the future of a team, especially when it involves playing one game vs. three games. However, there are a couple of big matchups in 4A that will come down to one game this week.
Madisonville (26-8) will play Robinson (25-3-1) at Cameron High School on Wednesday night. This could be one of the bigger pitching matchups of the year with probable starters being TCU commit Matt Rudis (Ranked No. 20 in TX) for Madisonville, and Baylor commit Braxton Ashcraft (Ranked No. 9 in TX) for Robinson.
No. 10 Sweeny (29-3) will play Boerne (27-5-1) at 7 pm on Friday at Weimar’s Veterans Memorial Park-Strickland Field. Few teams have as many highly ranked juniors as the Sweeny Bulldogs. These guys are hungry and they play with a blue collar mentality. Expect to see some hard-nosed baseball between these two clubs.
No. 25 Godley (25-1) vs. Kennedale (24-6-1). Godley and Kennedale are no strangers to success, but what stands out the most is the Godley offense. This lineup has enough power to put up multiple runs in an inning. The question will be, can they play clean defensively.
Fredericksburg (25-6) will play Wimberley (23-3-1) on Friday at 7 at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio.
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