Pleasant Grove Rolls Into Region Quarterfinals, Up Next Canton (Update)

The Pleasant Grove Hawks easily advanced into the Region Quarterfinals of the Texas High School Baseball Playoffs with two straight victories over Spring Hill.

The Hawks beat Spring Hill, 3-1 in extra innings in game one, then run ruled them 10-0 in game two.

PG Coach Riley Fincher liked what he saw, saying, "Game 1 was a great high school baseball game. Both pitchers did a great job for both teams. Throughout the game, our defense made plays to keep us in the game. Caleb (Bolden) pitched a great game and continued to get stronger as the game moved on."

Caleb limited Spring Hill to one run on four hits. Bolden then help himself by driving in what would turn out to be the winning run, after Cade Thompson got on base to start the rally.

Game two was no contest, as the Hawks came out and jumped all over their opponent. Pitcher Tyler Jeans was on spot both on the mound and at the plate as he shut down Spring Hill and blasted a home run as well. The Hawks did just about everything right, with their usual good pitching. solid dependable defense, and timely hitting.

Fincher was pumped about how the Hawks handled the series, " I think our guys did a great job of playing this past weekend, with the weather and the site changes, I thought they handled it great. This is a great group of guys that we as coaches are fortunate to be around on a daily basis."

Now it's on to the Region Quarterfinal match up against Canton. Of course you expect things to get tougher the further you advance, and that will likely be the case with Canton. They finished first in their district, just like the Hawks. They beat Bullard last week.

There has been a change in the schedule for that series. Game one will be played starting at 4:30 in Canton on Thursday. Game two will be Saturday at noon at PG. Game three if necessary would follow that also at PG.

I had a chance to actually see the game this past Saturday in person, and was very impressed with what I saw. This group seems poised to make a deep run in the playoffs and challenge for a state championship. They perform well in all phases of the game and are very poised and selfless in their play.

One great example of the latter was first baseman Will Hlavinka who in at least two at bats, gave himself up to advance runners and on one of those occasions get an RBI.

Once he made sure to hit the ball to the right side of the infield with less than two outs to advance runners and the second time to lay down a perfect bunt. It does not always show up in the box score, but plays like this are essential to the team, and the team  is what Pleasant Grove is all about.