Taylor High School varsity baseball is just one three-game series victory away from reaching the 4A state tournament. Standing in the Ducks’ way is a familiar foe in China Spring High School.
Following a series sweep of Longview Spring Hill High School in the regional semifinals, the Ducks and China Spring Cougars will play a series beginning at 7 p.m. on Wednesday night in Waco at Baylor Ballpark with an opportunity to play at the state tournament at UFCU Disch-Falk Field in Austin next week.
This has been quite the journey for the Ducks, who enter Wednesday night’s Region 3 Final showdown with China Spring with Taylor having a 30-3-1 overall record and a District 22 championship.
“It’s a dream come true to make it this far,” said Ducks junior pitcher Devin Valdez. “This group of guys have played together for pretty much our whole life and we’ve stuck together and have perfected our craft at this game.”
Valdez did not allow a single run to score in his Game 2 start of the 2-0 win over Spring Hill, while fellow junior pitcher Chris Perez was also superb in Game 1 as Taylor came from behind late to win 4-2 in that contest.
The Ducks winning and getting this far in the 4A playoffs is heavily attributed to this team’s great pitching, excellent defense and plenty of clutch hits from all parts of the batting order under head coach Justin Adams. Senior shortstop Dominck Hartman and fellow senior designated hitter Cohen Tyree are constantly getting on base or advancing runners, while even the bottom of the order with senior outfielder Jake Jansky, second baseman Mario Aguero and senior outfielder Conner Barcuch have been great in pressure situations at the plate.
The Cougars are the District 23 champions with a 33-4-1 record and on top of the importance of this series for the 2023 season, Taylor has not forgotten that China Spring has knocked them out of the playoffs the previous two seasons. Last year, Taylor was edged 3-1 in the decisive third game of the area playoffs.
“We have some revenge to get back,” Valdez said. “We’re a new and much-improved team than last year. We have grown in every aspect, especially our pitching depth. We just need to go into this game with all of the confidence that we’ve been playing with and go take what’s ours.”
China Spring, who lost its opening game in the regional semifinals vs. Carthage High School 4-2, was actually down 6-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning in Game 2 before storming a fiverun comeback to win 7-6. The Cougars cruised to a 6-3 victory in Game 3 over the Bulldogs.
The winner of this highly-anticipated series will advance to the state tournament and play the winner of the Region 1 Final on June 7 against either Amarillo Randall High School or Stephenville High School.
