The Pleasant Grove Hawks will play the Stephenville Yellow Jackets Wednesday in the 4A Texas baseball semi-finals at 1 p.m.

 

The game will be played at UFCU Disch-Faulk Field in Austin, Texas and will be broadcasted live on 94.1 FM, ESPN-Texarkana. The game will be streamed on line at www.espntexarkana.com. The voice of the Hawks Bob DelGiorno will provide the play-by-play. Airtime will be at 11:45 a.m.,  with a 1-hour and 15 minute pregame show.

The Hawks, from Texarkana, Texas finished second in district 15-4A and their record is 33-8. Pleasant Grove beat Lindale, Canton, Springhill, Melissa and the champion from their district, Liberty-Eylau in their playoff run.

The Yellow Jackets (28-8-1) come into the semi-final riding a 19-game winning streak. Stephenville took down Vernon, Decatur, Graham, El Paso-Riverside and Argyle in the playoffs.

The Pleasant Grove Hawks are deep at pitcher

The Hawks are deep at pitcher with 13 different players who are all capable arms. Senior Coe Blain, the winner in the regional final deciding game has a record of 9-1 while Junior Nathan Hutchison is 6-1. Senior Carson Rhodes is 5-0.  Blain’s birthday is Wednesday; he turns nineteen.

The other Hawk pitchers are Reid Bingham, Josh Brown, Alex Galvan, JM Long, Aidan Murray, Hudson Twisdale, Blake Jennings, Will Taylor, Brenton Clark and Tucker Anderson.

Pleasant Grove is led at the plate by senior Tucker “Home Run King” Anderson who plays first base. Anderson is batting 362, with 4 home runs and 33 RBI’s. Anderson has committed to play college baseball at Ouachita Baptist in Arkadelphia, Arkansas.

Other outstanding hitters on the Hawks are Cason Head, Alex Galvan, JM Long, Travler Couch, Brock Bearden and Brenton Clark.

Alex Murphy, PG’s 3rd baseman has vastly improved at the plate late in the playoffs and left fielder Hayden Koller is one of the best 9-hole hitters in the state.

Pleasant Grove Hawk head coach Riley Fincher has been to the state semi-finals twice in his 7-years as head coach and is looking for his first state championship. The Hawks assistant coaches are Yancarlo Palacios, Lucas Wacha and Brett Hudson. Wacha played on two Pleasant Grove Hawks baseball teams that won state championships.

“Lucas Wacha does and outstanding job,” Hawks head coach Riley Fincher said. “He’s a great coach and great man and he pours everything into our kids with everything he does.

Fincher said he told the kids about Wacha and they know he (Wacha) played in Austin.

“The kids know that he (Wacha) knows what to expect,” Fincher said.

Fincher also had nothing but praises for his other 2 assistants; Coach Palacios and Hudson.

 

Justin Swenson, the head coach of the Yellow Jackets said his team is led by shortstop and pitcher , senior Trace Morrison.

The winner of the Pleasant Grove vs Stephenville game will play the winner of Rusk vs Sinton. The 4A championship game is slated for Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at UFCU Disch Faulk in Austin, Texas.