WHERE Y’ALL AT?! | Baseball playoffs begin this week for eight teams in the ETB area; here’s a preview of every single one of ’em

EDITOR’S NOTE: Previewing all eight teams from the ETBlitz.com coverage area that are in the University Interscholastic League (UIL) baseball playoffs: Kilgore, Henderson, Tatum, Troup, West Rusk, White Oak, Overton, and Leverett’s Chapel. Hey, it IS long, but it’s worth it.

So, a team you follow is in the high school baseball playoffs that begin this week, but you don’t know where, or much about the details.

The team you follow is in the high school baseball playoffs this week, you know all the details already, and you just came here to read about it.

OR a team you don’t like is in the playoffs, you want them out, and you want to know who to root for. 😊

At any rate, we’ve got you covered.

Rainy weather is in the forecast for a while, but here’s the playoff series as they stand now. If that changes, we’ll do our best to update everyone in plenty of time.

Kilgore faces Lindale in a home-and-home series in the first round of the UIL Class 4A-Division I playoffs. Henderson plays Mabank in round one, also of 4A-DI.

In 3A-DI, Tatum takes on Mineola in the first round at Brook Hill. And White Oak, who beat Gladewater in a tiebreaker last weekend to earn the final playoff spot in their district, will face Malakoff at Tyler’s Mike Carter Field in the first round.

In 3A-DII, Troup meets Grand Saline in a first-round series, to be played in Athens, and West Rusk meets Edgewood in a series to be played at Bullard High.

Overton, in Class 2A-Division II, opens the playoffs against LaPoynor, also at Brook Hill – that’s a rare one-gamer, just the one game Thursday night; and in 1A, the Leverett’s Chapel Lions have made the postseason in the first season, period, under coach A.J. Hendrix. The Lions meet Avalon in a best-of-three series at Edgewood, a doubleheader on Thursday.

Read about all of these series below. And if any of these events end up streamed online so you guys can see them, we’ll try and let you know before game-time.

CLASS 4A

Kilgore

Coach Zach Hubbard has the Kilgore High School Bulldogs in the 4A-Division I playoffs in his first season.

Kilgore is 12-17 overall this season, as the playoffs start, and they’ll be facing the Lindale Eagles in the first, or bi-district round.

It’s a best-of-three-game series, and if for some reason, you’re unfamiliar with that, the winner is the team that has two wins in three games.

The series will be home-and-home, no neutral sites. Lindale will have the first game, this Thursday at 7 p.m., and obviously, the Eagles are the home team.

Game two will be Friday night at Kilgore’s Driller Park, also at 7 p.m., and if they need game three to decide the series, it’ll be back in Lindale at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

Tickets are $5 each for adults, $3 each for students.

Lindale is 20-6-1, finished second in District 15-4A (behind Van) and coach Cody Sewell’s team won its warm-up game, 6-3, over Edgewood to break a three-game losing streak to end the regular season. Those three losses: two to Van and once to Spring Hill, who combined to go unbeaten in their respective districts.

Kilgore split its two warm-up games over the weekend, slipping to Daingerfield, 6-4, on Friday, then getting by West Rusk, 8-6, on Saturday – both of those were at Driller. So technically, the Diamond ‘Dogs have won two of their last five games.

Kilgore’s pitchers who have logged the most innings are Cason Edney, Tanner Beets, Rafello Adamez, Kaeson Clayton and Salvador Cervantes.

Edney has by far the most innings pitched: 54 2/3, in 10 games, facing 239 batters in that period. He’s thrown 828 pitches this year, and has a 2-0 record, a 2.81 ERA. He’s allowed 32 runs this season on 61 hits, has walked 11, and has 56 strikeouts.

Beets has thrown 476 pitches to 145 batters in 31 2/3 innings, and has a 1-0 record. He’s allowed 21 runs on 36 hits – he has a 2.63 ERA – and has walked 12, with 26 strikeouts.

Adamez has pitched 28 2/3 innings, and thrown 425 pitches to 139 batters, an 0-1 record and a 3.41 ERA. He’s allowed 29 runs on 38 hits, walked 11 and struck out 13.

Clayton has faced 72 batters and thrown 306 pitches in 15 innings, and has an 0-1 record with a save, and a 4.20 ERA. He’s allowed nine runs on 13 hits, walked 17 and struck out 25.

And Cervantes has thrown 233 pitches in 10 innings, having faced 62 batters. He’s 0-1, and has allowed 16 runs on 16 hits, walked 13 and struck out 12.

Missing from that list, of course, are two young men who would likely have had major impacts on Kilgore’s pitching: Brodey Benson and Kolton Hale.

Benson recently underwent surgery, and it went well, and Hale may have been unable to pitch this year with an injury, but he still has the second-best batting average on the team, a .370 (and also found time to play for coach Grant Payne’s golf team, making the regional tournament, to boot).

Hale’s on-base percentage is .483, and he has 27 hits, 22 of them singles, with four doubles and a triple, as well. Hale has 7 RBI, has scored 22 times and has walked 13. He’s got five sac bunts, and five stolen bases.

Catcher Joseph Hendrickson has appeared in all of Kilgore’s 30 games, and in 82 at-bats, he’s batting .390, the team’s best average. Hendrickson has a .464 on-base percentage, and this season, he’s had 32 hits: 17 of them were singles, 10 doubles, four triples and a home run. He leads the team with 25 RBI.

He’s only scored seven runs – coaches often have a courtesy runner for the catcher – but he’s also only struck out four times all season.

Edney is hitting .318 in 30 games, and 85 at-bats. He’s got 27 hits this season: 26 of ‘em were singles, but he has one triple. His on-base percentage is .337. Edney has 17 RBI, has scored eight runs, walked four times, and he and Beets each have seven stolen bases, tied for the team lead (Brayden Williams, Clayton and Kason Henry each have six).

Beets is batting .307 with an on-base percentage of .390. Beets has 27 hits this year, three of them doubles and one triple to go with 23 singles. He’s scored 19 times, has 17 RBI, and two sacrifices.

Filling out Kilgore’s roster: Miles Applegate, Jackson Tucker Phillips, Jaxon Warner, Jaxon Dickey, Kashten Parham, Brayton Reyes, Brody Smith, and Devin Tinney.

Henderson

Another coach in his first year, and like Hubbard, not his first actual year – just his first year at this program – is Henderson’s Brock Lemire.

Lemire is now steering the Lions into the 4A-DI postseason after just one regular season there.

Henderson (16-11 overall, 9-5 in district play) will take on Mabank (13-13) in the first round, and it’s a home-and-home, as well.

This series has already been changed due to the expected rainy weather. Henderson will host game one, a 7 p.m. start, but it’s now on THURSDAY instead of Friday.

Game two will be Saturday at 4 p.m. at Mabank, and if game three is necessary, it’ll begin a few minutes after game two.

As far as the home-and-home aspect: Henderson is 7-3 this year at its own park, Mabank, 4-3 at theirs. The Lions are 6-4 in true road games, and Mabank is 6-5.

The Panthers didn’t play a warm-up game; their regular season games didn’t finish until Friday, and Mabank closed with a loss, 8-7, to Canton, after having beaten Canton last Tuesday in a shutout. That loss on Friday ended a four-game winning streak for the Panthers.

Henderson has won three straight games, including beating Carthage, who finished second in 16-4A behind unbeaten Spring Hill. The Lions topped Carthage, 6-5, and since then, haven’t allowed a run, smacking Cumberland Academy around, 18-0 last Tuesday, then holding off Canton in Saturday’s warm-up game, 2-0.

For Henderson this season: Coy Freeman, Brian Biggs, Graysen Spoon, Nick Lynch, Kayne Brantley, Macen Jones, Hunter Schwettmann, Maverick Walker, D Benavides, Caden Foster, Cayson Wallace, Michael Hall, Manning Bradley, Isaiah Doan, Maddox Hatchel, Cameren Melton, Payton Schwettmann, David Jimmerson, Ty Phillips, Rex Dixon, and Sabastian Vega.

CLASS 3A

Tatum

Coach Dustin Russell and the Eagles won 3A’s District 16 championship, and now they’re aiming for the playoffs.

Tatum (19-8 overall) has had a pair of deep playoff runs the last two seasons, but this ISN’T the last two seasons: this is 2025, and Russell and his team know it. They’re not living off that. This isn’t 2023, or ’24. This is a different challenge, and they’re aiming to meet it.

The Eagles will meet Mineola in the first round of the UIL Class 3A, Division I playoffs. That will be a best-of-three series, and it’ll be played at Brook Hill School.

Game one is Friday at 8 p.m., and game two is Saturday at noon, with a game three if it’s needed to be played shortly after game two.

Now, the Eagles finished the regular season on a five-game winning streak, then faced a couple of tough teams in warm-up games: they lost by a run to both, to New Diana last Friday (2-1), and to Bullard on Saturday (4-3).

The Yellow Jackets come into this series 10-12 overall, after going 4-4 in their district for a fourth-place finish. They lost the last game of their season to Eustace last weekend, and had won four in a row prior to that.

Let’s introduce you, if you’re not already familiar with them, to the Tatum Eagles.

Three of the Eagles’ pitchers – Tristin Berry, Logan Cansler and Colt Bullard – combined to pitch just over 110 innings. Berry pitched 55 of them, finished the regular season with a ridiculous 0.89 ERA, and a 6-3 record. He allowed 17 runs (just seven earned) on 48 hits, walked only 12 and struck out 45, and has thrown 785 pitches.

Cansler has pitched in 31 1/3 innings, allowing 21 runs on 21 hits, walked 28, and struck out 37, on 575 pitches. He has a 4.47 ERA.

Bullard, the move-in from Kilgore, finished the regular season with 23 2/3 innings pitched, a 2.07 ERA and threw 425 pitches. He has a 3-1 record, having allowed just 11 runs (seven earned) on 25 hits – all of the hits Bullard allowed were singles. He’s walked 12 this year and struck out 32.

Cayden Tatum is unbeaten on the mound this season (3-0) and has a 0.42 ERA, having only pitched in 16 2/3 innings. He’s allowed just two runs (one earned) on five hits, walked nine and struck out 10.

Other pitchers fans might see in the series: Aldo Espinoza, Brody Downs, Tucker Anthony and Logen Tovar.

At the plate, the Eagles have been very good. In 26 games, Kody Hines has a .361 batting average, with 30 hits, 25 RBI, 10 doubles and two trips, and he’s scored 23 runs.

Adcock has a .375 batting average, with nine doubles, a triple and a home run, a part of 30 hits this season, also in 26 games played. He’s scored 39 runs, and has 13 RBI. Jaxen Prince hits .368, having managed 28 hits, six of them doubles, with 27 RBI; he’s scored 24 runs. Dustin Henigan has played in all 27 of Tatum’s games this year, and bats .293. He has 24 hits (five doubles), 13 RBI, and has scored 16 runs.

Bullard has hit .338 in 26 games; “Bull” has 22 hits, including nine doubles and two triples, and has collected 18 RBI. He’s also scored 20 runs this season.

Having each played 21 games, Berry and Brody Downs are hitting. Berry hits .348 and has 16 hits, a double and two triples, and 12 RBI. Downs bats .400, with 18 hits, eight of them (half!) doubles, and 6 RBI.

Henigan and Hines are tied for the team lead in stolen bases (10 each); Prince is right behind with nine, and Adcock has eight.

Cooper Whiteus finished with the team’s highest average (.415) but missed some time. Whiteus still, even with about 11 games missed, finished with 22 hits, five of them doubles and five triples, a home run, 15 RBI and scored 23 runs.

The winner of this series gets either Liberty-Eylau (25-4) or Daingerfield (11-6-1) in round two. Interestingly, L-E was unbeaten in its boys basketball season, and finished with just one loss: that was to Tatum, in the second round of the 3A playoffs, as the Eagles were on their way to the 2024-25 3A basketball state title.

Troup

Troup’s Tigers, coached by Drew Walley, completed their regular season, managed to defeat Tatum twice, but dropped out of the lead in the district standings with a loss to Arp. Troup has won eight of its last nine games.

That left Troup (20-7) in second, but they’ll be headed to the 3A-Division II playoffs, where they’ll face Grand Saline in round one.

That’ll take place in Athens, starting Thursday at 7 p.m. Game two is Friday at 7, and game three will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, if the series isn’t decided before then.

Either Hooks (18-11) or Mount Pleasant-Chapel Hill (6-9) will be up next for the Troup-Grand Saline series winner.

Suiting up for Troup this season: Carson Allen, Remmy Rushing, Joshua Childress, Hayden Huml, Bryce Wallum, Juan Salinas, Braxton Barton, Carson Davenport, Grady Lowry, James Pierce, Caden Graves, Carter Graves, Caden Switzer, Conner Smith, Kash Hardy, Conner McCartney, Jackson Frachiseur, Logan Lockey, Cash Stovall, Case Howell, Weston Roth, Bryson Needham, Bryce McElroy, Tanner Wilson, and Jory Martin.

West Rusk

When West Rusk ISD brought longtime East Texas high school baseball coach Ronnie Hendrix on as the Raiders’ new head coach, they likely figured his experience would play a major factor in keeping the program in the playoff mix.

Turns out, it proved very important, immediately.

The Raiders, with a talented lineup that got them to the third round of the 3A playoffs a year ago, fought their way through a second-half-of-district grind and into the postseason with a 7-5 district record.

Along the way, pitcher Cole Jackson broke the school record for strikeouts, and West Rusk won five of its last six games, the only loss a 3-2 setback in a two-game series with Arp the next-to-last week of the season. They lost a warm-up game at Kilgore on Saturday.

Now, they shift their focus to Edgewood (21-9), whom they face in a best-of-three series at Bullard High School. West Rusk and Edgewood meet for game one on Thursday at 7 p.m. Game two is Friday at 6, and a game three would be moments after game two concludes, if it’s needed.

The winner of West Rusk-Edgewood will meet either New Diana (20-7-1) or DeKalb (16-10) in the area, or second, round.

Edgewood is going to face a tough pitching lineup that Hendrix puts on the field. Jackson has an ERA of just 1.70, and is 4-0 on the season, with one save. Kullin Tavarez has a 2.91 ERA, a 1-1 record with two saves, and Jase Reasoner has a 2.56 ERA. Troy Hunley, Chris Sanchez, and Braiden Mooney all could also see time.

Jackson has thrown the most innings – 53 2/3, to be exact – and faced 235 batters. He’s allowed 49 hits this season, but almost all of them singles; he has allowed four home runs, but no doubles, and no triples. He’s walked 15. Jackson has allowed 27 runs, but only half of them (13) earned, and has 83 strikeouts.

Tavarez has been on the mound for 33 2/3 innings in 2025, allowing 25 runs (14 earned) on 30 hits, with 17 walks and 57 strikeouts in 155 batters faced.

Reasoner, in 27 1/3 innings, has allowed 19 runs (10 earned) on 23 hits, has walked nine, and has 23 strikeouts in 130 batters faced.

As a team, the Raiders have scored 133 runs this year on 168 hits, and have a team on-base percentage of .389.

Jackson bats .388, with 26 hits in 67 at-bats, with three doubles, a triple and a home run in that mix. He’s got 16 RBI, and five stolen bases on the season.

Hunley bats .360, and he has 27 hits this season, including five doubles, two triples and a home run. He has 13 RBI, and has scored 21 runs, the most of any Raider.

Caiden Landon has 15 hits and 8 RBI this season; Reasoner, Tavarez, and Kam Brown each have 14 hits – Tavarez has 12 RBI, Brown has 10, and Reasoner, five, and Reasoner leads the team with 10 stolen bases.

White Oak

Coach Charles Foshee’s Roughnecks had to beat Gladewater in a tiebreaker game to get into the playoffs – the ‘Necks and the Bears were tied in district, each with a 6-6 district record.

White Oak won that game, at neutral-site Tatum, an 8-1 win, and claimed the fourth and final playoff spot in 16-3A. They’ll face Malakoff at Mike Carter Field in Tyler, a series that’ll begin Friday night at 7 p.m. The series continues on Friday at Carter Field at 2 p.m., and if game three is necessary, it’ll follow game two.

White Oak is 17-8 as the playoffs start. Malakoff is 14-10, and comes in having evenly-split its last four games (2-2).

The White Oak-Malakoff winner will meet either Atlanta (15-7-1) or Hughes Springs (20-6) in the second round.

The ‘Necks have three pitchers – Collin Wheat (47), Logan Langewisch (31 1/3) and Jaxsen Ludlow (26 2/3) – that have thrown at least 26 innings. Ludlow has a 4-2 record with two saves; Langewisch has a 3-1 record; and Wheat a 4-3 record. There’s also Nico Soto, who has only pitched 10 innings this season, but has three saves.

Wheat has a 2.53 ERA, having allowed 24 runs on 21 hits, 17 of the runs earned. He’s got 72 strikeouts and only allowed 34 walks in 2025.

Langewisch has given up 21 runs (13 earned) on 31 hits, walked 24, and struck out 41.

Ludlow has allowed nine runs (four earned) on 16 hits, walked 14, and has 37 strikeouts.

At the plate, counting batters that have at least 50 at-bats this year, Jordy Robertson is hitting a ridiculous .449, with 31 hits this year, nine of them doubles; he has 26 RBI, and has scored 16 runs.

Ludlow has 28 hits, one of them a double; he’s scored 26 runs, which leads the team; he has 10 RBI, and a .400 batting average.

Brady Greenwood has 24 hits this year, a .421 average, and five of them doubles, with one home run. He’s got 16 RBI.

And Tyson McKinney bats .288 this season, with 19 hits (four doubles, a triple and a home run in that mix), has 8 RBI and has scored 25 runs.

White Oak’s playoff roster: McKinney, Ludlow, Robertson, Greenwood, Soto, Wheat, Langewisch, Levi Sipes, Will Thomas, Tysen McClain, Carson Rhodes, Braden Callens, Tate Salter, and Kelton Cates.

CLASS 2A

Overton

Coach Christopher Cook’s Mustangs ended the season with nine straight wins, the longest winning streak of any baseball team in the ETBlitz.com coverage area (Troup, by the way, had the longest softball winning streak of any of our programs, with 14).

They did lose a warm-up game to Troup last weekend.

But the Mustangs have a 22-6 record, having finished District 19-2A with a 12-2 mark. Overton faces LaPoynor in the first round in a unique circumstance these days: a one-game, winner-take-all playoff in the UIL Class 2A, Division II postseason. It’ll be at Brook Hill School, and starts Thursday night at 7:30 p.m.

LaPoynor had to beat Cayuga in the final game of the regular season, at neutral-site Frankston, to get into the playoffs. The Flyers are 15-12 this season.

Suiting up for Overton: Mason Rowe, Rylan Holleman, Jacob Osburn, Braxton Harper, Joey Zalman, Brody Brown, Bryce Still, Bryson Bobbitt, Landon Hill and Jayden Edwards.

If the Mustangs beat LaPoynor in the one-game playoff, it’ll be their first baseball playoff series win since the 2017 season.

The Overton-LaPoynor series winner faces Bowie (18-6) or Big Sandy (10-9) in the second round.

CLASS 1A

Leverett’s Chapel

Coach A.J. Hendrix has played a LOT of baseball and coached quite a bit of it in his 25, 26 years on planet Earth. He took his first head coaching job, at LC, this school year. And he’s about to add “playoff coach” to that resume.

The Lions only played 12 games, but did well enough to get into the UIL Class 1A playoffs. LC will meet Avalon on Thursday in Edgewood, a 5:30 p.m. game one start, and game two will follow game one. If game three is needed, it’ll be back in Edgewood on Thursday at 5 p.m.

LC went on a four-game winning streak in late March and continued it through April. The Lions lost their final regular season game to Union Hill, ending the streak.

They hope to begin another one, in the playoffs, on Thursday.

Avalon hasn’t played many more games than LC; the Eagles are 7-8-1 overall this season, and also lost their last game of the regular season, to Wortham.

LC will want to pitch to Josh Novak carefully; Novak has a batting average of .553, and an on-base percentage of .605. If Kade Johnson gets on the base path for Avalon, he’s a threat: he has 19 stolen bases this year.

John De La Garza has Avalon’s lowest ERA among their pitchers, a 3.59 ERA. And he also leads the team in RBI (21).

Among LC Lions with at least 25 at-bats this season, Carson Ford has 18 hits, including two doubles and three triples, and has 13 RBI. Ethan Williams had 15 hits, including two triples and a double, and has 6 RBI. Williams has scored 15 runs this year.

Davis Tryon finished with a .481 average, having 13 hits, including four doubles and a triple, has scored nine runs and has 13 RBI.

And Ethan Vaden has had 11 hits this year, including two triples; he’s scored 12 runs, and has 7 RBI.

Williams leads the team with 14 stolen bases; Ford has 10, and Trent Wheat, eight.

On the mound, Ford has by far the most innings logged (32 1/3 innings; no other Lion has more than 9 1/3). Ford has a 3.03 ERA. He allowed 30 runs (but only 14 earned) on 22 hits allowed, walked 17, and struck out 61 this season, having faced 151 batters.

The winner of LC-Avalon faces Miller Grove in round two; LC run-ruled MG, 12-0, on April 15.