H.S. Baseball Playoffs: Elkhart almost to its goal destination

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May 29, 2012

H.S. Baseball Playoffs: Elkhart almost to its goal destination

By JUSTIN RAINS Palestine Herald-Press The Palestine Herald-Press Tue May 29, 2012, 06:08 PM CDT

ELKHART — Since Day 1 of the 2012 baseball season, the Elkhart baseball team’s stated mission has been to advance to the state baseball tournament.

The squad even had T-shirts made up commemorating the 181 miles between Elkhart and Round Rock, where the tournament will be held.

In the eyes of the Elks players and coaches, they’re now a mere three miles away.

The first of those three miles won’t be easy. It’ll mean topping Central Heights in this week’s regional final at Kilgore’s Driller Park, which begins at 7 p.m. Thursday.

“This is what we talk about all the time, about the hard work and it paying off,” EHS coach John Adair said. “To not just have it pay off like it has, but to get the ultimate payment, is something that’ll be really special.”

The Elks made it this far — the first time they’ve made this trek since 1992 — thanks to some late-game dramatics in the regional semifinals.

Elkhart won Game 2 of their series against Queen City 2-1, a game that ended when Tyler Tutt gunned down a Bulldog runner trying to score the tying run with two outs in the seventh inning.

“I got the ball in the glove and let it go, and as soon as I let it go, I didn’t even have to look, I knew it was going right through the (cut-off man),” Tutt said. “I just knew out of the hand it was going right to him.”

The Central Heights series will start with a bang Thursday, with Elkhart ace Cam Reeves taking the mound against the Blue Devils’ Alex Phillips.

Reeves is 3-0 this postseason, having allowed only three earned runs during that span.

Phillips is coming off of a 10-inning, 14-strikeout win over Edgewood in the regional semifinals, and no-hit Buna during the regional quarterfinals.

Despite the much-hyped pitching matchup, Reeves said he’s going to keep the same routine.

“It’s pretty cool but I don’t’ want to overthink it,” he said. “I know the defense has helped me a lot and I’m not going to try and do too much just because of all the hype. I just going to try and do my thing the way I have.”

As for facing Phillips, Elkhart’s hitters know they’re in for a challenge.

Adair admitted that Phillips will probably be the best pitcher the Elks have faced all postseason long, but that can’t change the way they go about things, he said.

“I want us to go in and lay off the off-speed first pitch. I want you up there looking for fastball, be aggressive when you get it. That’s what we’ve done. The times we didn’t do it, the team struggled. So far in the playoffs, we’ve seen a lot of off-speed pitches and we’ve taken teams off of their game plan by sticking with that philosophy.”

This series is also a rematch of two games from earlier this season, both of which Elkhart won.

The Elks beat the Blue Devils 10-0 and 9-2 during the Howard Estes Memorial Tournament.

But, the Central Heights basketball team was still in the playoffs at that time, and the Blue Devils were without their full compliment of players.

Either way, Adair said it probably wouldn’t matter.

“Those games are in the past, they’re history,” Adair said. “Those mean absolutely nothing. It’s about Thursday night, it’s not about what you did the first month of the year.”

But, while it won’t change the way Elkhart approaches things, Tutt said he could see it changing the way Central Heights does.

“We’re just playing it one game at a time, one pitch at a time,” the senior said. “I think, from their perspective, they’re probably pressing a little more, because they know we’ve gotten the advantage on them.

“It doesn’t really mean much, but I could see us being in their shoes (and) being a little nervous.”

If Elkhart can get through this series, it’ll keep the parallels to 1992 alive.

Twenty years ago was the last time the Elks advanced to the regional finals, and in that same year, they team advanced to its third state tournament.

A win this weekend takes Elkhart back to state, something the younger players want to do for the elder statesmen of the club.

“It’d mean a lot to get them out of here with (a trip to state) because when we’re seniors we hope the younger kids help us out with a trip to Austin,” junior Cole Bridges said.

————

Sports editor Justin Rains can be reached via e-mail at jrains@palestineherald.com

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