Arkansas reliever Stephen Richards is 6-1 with a 1.82 ERA in 34 innings this season.
Throughout his baseball career, Stephen Richards has felt he's had a little something extra to prove. He stood 5-10 and weighed 140 pounds coming out of Plano East High School. Now he's the top reliever for Arkansas, which plays Cal State Fullerton today in the College World Series. Links: NCAA site | Bracket Blogs: Colleges | High schools
Micha Easterling (right), pictured here during a recent playoff victory, had two hits for Ponder in its semifinal loss.
Undefeated Scott Zimmerle struck out 11 in six innings to help Danbury defeat Ponder, 8-2, in a state Class 2A semifinal Thursday in Austin. Leading, 2-0, Danbury broke the game open with a four-run third inning. State tournament results, pairings Blog: High schools
Corpus Christi Moody's Gerardo Gutierrez (right) is safe at home, beating a tag by Fort Worth Arlington Heights catcher Andrew Hunt in the third inning.
Fort Worth Arlington Heights neutralized Corpus Christi Moody's Rudy Flores, who entered Wednesday's Class 4A state baseball semifinal with 11 home runs and 61 RBIs. But a couple of ground balls, a fly ball and an error were enough for Moody to take a 6-4 win at Dell Diamond in Round Rock. State tournament results, pairings Blog: High schools
Ponder's Dalton Brown delivers a pitch during a recent playoff win against Edgewood.
With consecutive losses to open District 10-2A play, Ponder hardly seemed like a lock for the playoffs. But after the rough start, Ponder reeled off nine consecutive wins and is 7-0 in the playoffs going into its first state tournament appearance since 2004. Semifinals preview Blog: High Schools
Fort Worth Paschal's Hoby Bryant has opted to play for veteran Texas coach Augie Garrido (shown).
In 1978, Brian Milner joined the big league team right out of high school, but injuries derailed his career. Milner is reliving a similar situation this year through his son, Hoby, who is projected as a fifth-to-sixth-round talent in this year's MLB draft, which starts Tuesday. Blog: Colleges Blog: Texas Rangers
06/06/2009McKinney North loses pair to Texas High, falls short of state tournament Slade Heathcott was 4-for-7 with three home runs - including a grand slam - eight RBIs and a double as Texarkana Texas High defeated host McKinney North, 13-0 and 6-2, Saturday to win the Class 4A Region II final series, 2-1.06/07/2009El Paso Socorro ousts Flower Mound Marcus Jessiray Navarrette hit a two-run home run, and Cory Falvey broke the game open with a three-run homer Saturday as El Paso Socorro defeated Flower Mound Marcus, 11-5, completing a two-game sweep in the Class 5A Region I finals.06/06/2009Texarkana Pleasant Grove completes sweep of Princeton At Northeast Texas Community College on Saturday, Texarkana Pleasant Grove qualified for the Class 3A state baseball tournament, defeating Princeton, 14-1, to complete a sweep of the Region II series.06/07/2009Baseball playoff roundup Cole Hemmi and Josh McCoy drove in three runs each and Abel Vasquez pitched a six-hitter as Windthorst (32-8) beat Blue Ridge (27-6) at Lake Dallas High School to win their best-of-3 Class A Region II final series, 2-1.06/05/2009Baseball playoffs roundup Sometimes the baseball gods allow for a chance at redemption.Marcus drops opener vs. EP Socorro, 7-6 Chris Guzman's two-out RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning, helping El Paso Socorro defeat Flower Mound Marcus, 7-6, in Game 1 of the Class 5A Region I final at Christensen Stadium.
