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Week four of district play is in the books. Here's what went down:

Owls Off to Best District Start in 17 Years

The Joshua Owls improved to 8-0 in district play with a pair of wins this week versus the Arlington Seguin Cougars (6-0 Tuesday at SHS, 7-0 Friday at JHS).  It's the best start to league play for the Owls since 2008, when JHS started 8-0 on the way to a 13-1 record and the school's last outright district championship. Joshua has now won nine of its last 10 games, and may have a playoff spot clinched by this time next Saturday.

Once again the main story for Joshua were the exploits of right-handed pitchers Jaxson Philpot and Cody Rogers. Philpot (whom I will now apologize to for the misspelling of his first name the last few weeks; my bad, bro, I'm not very smart) ran his district record to 4-0 with a two-hit shutout of Seguin in Arlington on Tuesday, striking out 14 Cougs in the process. In 8-5A games his ERA is now 0.54, and the league is hitting just .176 versus the sophomore. Hank Berkner continued his torrid start to league play by hitting a triple in three at-bats. He also posted a walk, a run scored, and a stolen base. Gavin Massey finished 1-for-3 with two runs scored and three stolen bases on a night when the Owls ripped seven bags total.

In Friday night's 7-0  home win over Seguin, junior Cody Rogers instructed Mr. Philpot to hold his beer and then promptly went out and fired his third consecutive complete game shutout. Rogers is 3-0 in district games, and is working on a 21.0 inning scoreless streak, if that's good. There's a few dudes in the district having stellar seasons on the mound (including Isaac Darst from Burleson High and Jakob Hernandez from Centennial), but what these two cats from JHS are doing thus far is kinda silly. 8-5A Pitcher of the Year may have to be decided by a best-of-three arm wrestling showdown on the mound at Glen Holley Memorial Park. Keep dealing, gents. 

Cleburne and Timberview Split A Banger of a Series

Timberview scored eight runs in the 6th inning and one more in the 7th inning of Tuesday's game at Timberview to pick up a big win over Cleburne 11-10. The Jackets returned the favor with a 2-1 win Friday afternoon at CHS to salvage the split. Both teams are still firmly in the mix for a playoff spot, and will have a huge say in how things ultimately shake out in 8-5A.

Centennial, Burleson Pick up Sweeps

The two BISD schools kept pace with the Owls as the Elks sweep Summit (14-0, 7-0) and Centennial sweeps Everman (7-0, 3-1). BHS should likely pick up two wins this week versus Seguin ahead of its final four district games against rivals Centennial and Joshua. The Spartans of CHS are now entering the big boy part of their schedule, with series against Joshua, Burleson High, and Timberview to close the season.

The Week Ahead

Summit vs. Timberview

(Tuesday at THS; Friday at SHS)

Joshua vs. Centennial

(Tuesday at CHS; Friday at JHS)

Burleson vs. Seguin

(Tuesday at SHS; Friday at BHS)

Everman vs. Cleburne

(Tuesday at CHS; Friday at EHS)

It's the best time of the year for high school baseball, in my humble opinion. Sure, the playoffs are cool, especially once you get to round three. But there's six games left in the regular season 8-5A schedule, and we get the following series the next three weeks, respectively: Joshua/Centennial, Burleson High/Centennial, and Joshua/Burleson. The best series are the ones that are meaningful in both the standings and in the stands, and these three matchups check both boxes in a big way. <Bart Scott voice>CAN'T WAIT!</Bart Scott voice>. 

Obviously the Centennial/Joshua series is the biggest one this week. Joshua can clinch a playoff spot as early as Tuesday 4/8 (with a win and a Timberview loss), and the Spartans can really shake things up at the top of the standings with a sweep. I won't pretend that I'm not insanely jealous that I don't get to be prominently involved with one of these teams for the stretch run, but I will wish everyone good luck (yes, even Cleburne). Have some fun with it, fellas.