Houston baseball coach Brent Hall was hoping to face the preseason’s top-ranked Class 3 team in the district finals. Instead, the Tigers will have to knock off Springfield Catholic a round earlier.
HHS is seeded fourth in the Class 3 District 10 tournament that begins Saturday. The Tigers (8-6) will play fifth-seeded Mountain Grove at 11 a.m. at Springfield Catholic High School.
Lingering in the semifinals is Catholic, which drew a first-round bye. The Irish have fallen out of the state rankings, but they are 18-2 and the district favorites.
“I don’t like the draw we got, but it was pretty fair,” Hall said. “We were going to have to play (Catholic) if we wanted to win the district, so we’ll just play them a round earlier than we would have liked.”
That’s if the Tigers advance.
HHS, which concludes the regular season Thursday against Seymour, won both regular-season meetings with Mountain Grove. But both were by a single run.
The Tigers are also monitoring the health of junior Aaron Cantrell, who was struck in the pitching arm last week against St. James. He sat out of Tuesday’s game at Mansfield.
“I like the kids’ mentality going into districts,” Hall said. “They have the mentality that they’re going to win it.
“I know they can beat anybody. They just have to go out and do it. It’s within the realm of possibility.”
All games at Springfield Catholic High School
Saturday’s games
(4) Houston vs. (5) Mtn. Grove, 11 a.m.
(2) Strafford vs. (7) Willow Springs, 1:30 p.m.
(3) Ava vs. (6) Liberty, 4 p.m.
Monday’s games
(1) Springfield Catholic vs. HHS-MG winner, 4:30 p.m.
Strafford-Willow winner vs. Ava-Liberty winner, 7 p.m.
Tuesday’s game
Championship, 6 p.m.