PBR TX Staff HS Playoff Preview
May 4, 2022
TEXAS - The time is finally here, the time where every pitch and every swing mean just a little bit more. It is playoff time here in Texas. It has been a great year of HS baseball so far in our state, and if history tells us anything we are just getting started. There are must see matchups from the 1st week of the playoffs all the way through the State tournament. What team has a magical 6 week run in them? Today the PBR Texas staff is going to do some predictions for 4A-6A. We will pick our state winners, underdogs, and matchups that we are excited to see.
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Phil Haig - TX Scouting Director
6A State Champion: Southlake Carroll
6A Dark Horse: SA Johnson
5A State Champion: Lake Creek
5A Dark Horse: Rouse
4A State Champion: Sinton
4A Dark Horse: Silsbee
Matchup to watch for
In the 1st round there is a particular pitcher vs. hitter matchup that is catching our eye, and that is Rusk’s LHP JD Thompson (Vanderbilt) against La Vega C Nik Sanders (Texas). Thompson has been one of the state’s best pitchers throughout his HS career and led Rusk to the state tournament last year. Sanders has some of the best raw power in the state and can take over a game with his bat.
Region 4 in 4A
Who will come out of the Region that features Sinton, Boerne and CC Calallen. Sinton is the favorite here but Boerne and Calallen are both talented well coached teams who are used to making deep runs. Region 4-4A contains seven teams with 21 wins or more on the season. It will be big time matchups week after week, and whoever makes it out of South Texas will surely be battle tested.
Region 3 in 6A
arguably the toughest region to make it out of this year. Region 3 has fourteen teams with twenty plus wins, and of those fourteen, four of them have eclipsed the 25 win mark. There is high end pitching, hitting, and experience throughout the rosters. Tompkins has been in the top 3 of the rankings all year and has occupied the top spot of our Power 30 since mid March. Let's see if they can make it out of this gauntlet of a region and make it to Austin.
Brandon Gowins - TX Assistant Scouting Director
6A State Champion: Rockwall Heath
6A Dark Horse: Denton Guyer and SA Johnson
5A State Champion: Lucas Lovejoy
5A Dark Horse: Highland Park and College Station
4A Dark Horse: Aubrey
Matchups to watch for
For me the perfect matchup to end the year would be Rockwall Heath vs. Southlake. Two prestigious programs that each know how to win a state title, have D1 players all over the field for both teams and are each well coached. Would be an epic matchup to see who holds up the trophy for 6A.
Dom Reid vs. Brenner Cox
In round 1 we get a marquee individual matchup between Frisco Lone Star’s RHP Dom Reid (Oklahoma St.) and Prosper Rock Hill’s OF/RHP Brenner Cox. (Univ. of Texas) Reid has been up to 94 recently and continues to impress, while Cox has one of the loudest sets of tools in the State. He can win a game by himself at the plate.
Sinton vs. 4A
Sinton has been on a mission all year after coming up just short last year. On paper, you could argue Sinton is the most talented team in the state regardless of classification. They are loaded in their Sr. and Jr. classes and have elite talent up the middle of the field. It’s gonna take a special performance by another team to upset them.
Ben Green - TX Director of Operations
6A State Champion - Prosper
6A Dark Horse - Denton Guyer
5A State Champion - Mansfield Legacy
5A Dark Horse - Prosper Rock Hill
4A State Champion - China Spring
4A Dark Horse - Farmersville
Matchups to watch for
In 6A Ben likes the potential 3rd round matchup between our #1 ranked team Katy Tompkins and Ridge Point. Tompkins has been on a tear all year but Ridge Point may have the horses to take them down.
In 5A, CC Ray vs CC Carroll in the 3rd Round. Anytime you get two talented teams from the Corpus area playing each other in the playoffs, it’s electric. The stands will be packed and the city will be buzzing. On top of that, they are both really talented baseball teams.
In 4A, Nik Sanders (La Vega) vs. JD Thompson (Rusk) - Will Sanders, a UT commit, be able to do enough offensively against Thompson, Vandy commit, to push La Vega over the top.
Tyler King - Houston Area Scout
6A State Champion - Southlake Carroll
6A Dark Horses - SB Memorial, FB Travis, Alvin and Austin Bowie
5A State Champion: Friendswood
5A Dark Horses- Dripping Springs, Frisco Independence and College Station
4A State Champion: Sinton
4A Dark horse: Alice and Paris North Lamar
Matchups to watch for
In 6A, we could get a potential regional Semis matchup between Tompkins and Pearland. That would be a battle between one of the deepest lineups in the state battling against one of the deepest pitching staffs in Houston.
In 5A, Brenham and College Station are always a must watch. A heated rivalry that already had a 12 inning game a few weeks ago. They would square off in the Regional Quarterfinals.
4A would be a rematch from last year’s regional quarterfinals, and that is Rusk vs. China Spring. Last year in a 1 game series they had a 13 inning classic that eventually saw Rusk prevail. Can China Spring get their revenge?
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