LYFORD — Lyford Bulldogs head baseball coach Chris Cervantes had some advice for his players before the team’s Class 3A bi-district matchup against Kingsville’s Santa Gertrudis: Throw the records out the window.
He hopes his team does not take his advice likely.
The Bulldogs are coming off the school’s best season since 1995 and secured a first-place seed as the District 32-3A champs.
The Santa Gertrudis Lions, meanwhile, are coming off a 2-6 district season and edged out the Corpus Christi London Pirates (1-7) for the final playoff spot by one game.
“I talked to the team about the records because a 2-6 record on paper looks like a team that’s had a hard time,” said Cervantes. “But you have to look at the district that they’re in because they’ve got a really tough district and if you look at the games that they’ve played, they’re all within a few runs of winning.
“Their record is really deceiving because this Santa Gertruidis team can easily be 6-2 if a few plays go their way. They’re definitely a team that is battle tested and, like I told the boys, you can throw the records out the window and the seedings don’t really matter because it’s about what we do.”
Nevertheless, as Coach Cervantes explained, his team is ready for tonight’s one-game playoff.
“Everybody’s upbeat and looking forward to getting out there, and wanting to get back on the playing field,” he said. “We haven’t played since last Friday so they’re anxious to get out there.
“We’re use to playing two games a week, but we’ve definitely got a little healthier with this break so this was a good week to get our legs back under us.”
The Bulldogs take on Santa Gertruidis at 7 p.m. today at Texas A&M-Kingsville’s Nolan Ryan Field.
