Raiders hope to continue making history

It would be an overstatement to call Sunnyvale's season a "revenge tour."

The Raiders set some lofty goals before the start of the season and they were not concerned with who stood in the way.

That is not to say that reaching some of those milestones have not been a little sweeter due to who they faced.

Last season, Sunnyvale was swept by Palmer in the regular season. This year, the Raiders returned the favor on their way to an undefeated run to the 13-2A championship.

Last season's playoff run came to an end at the hands of Franklin. This year, Sunnyvale took down Franklin in the area round.

Prior to this season, the Raiders were winless in five meetings with former district rival Corsicana Mildred. This year, Sunnyvale not only won the regular season meeting, but also swept them in a pair of double-digit victories in their regional quarterfinal series.

Now, the Raiders (27-4) will try to advance further than any team in school history when they meet Gunter in a Class 2A Region II semifinal best-of-3 series starting Friday at 8 p.m. at McKinney Boyd High School. The second game is scheduled for Saturday at 5 p.m. at the same site, with the third game, if necessary, to follow.

"Being able to beat some of the teams we have definitely makes it a little sweeter," Sunnyvale head coach Tim Arden said. "But that is just the way it worked out. These have worked hard and they have high goals no matter who we are playing."

Sunnyvale has outscored its opponents by a combined score of 45-3 in its four playoff games but expects this weekend to be much more tightly-contested. The Raiders are ranked sixth in the latest Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association Class 2A state poll, while Gunter (26-6) is ranked ninth.

"They (Gunter) played a warm-up game at our field so we got to get a good look at them and they are a very good team," Arden said. "They hit the ball well, they play good defense, they are athletic and their pitchers all do a good job of mixing up their pitches. They are a well-coached team so they aren't going to give us anything."

While Sunnyvale understands the challenge that lies ahead, it has plenty of reasons to be feeling confident about itself.

The Raiders are averaging better than 11 runs per game in the playoffs, but that is not much different than what they have done all season long.

Sunnyvale knew the top of the order would be strong, with sluggers such as Zach Metzger, Connor Nash, Will Moss and Brock Taylor.

But what makes the Raiders so dangerous is their production up and down the lineup. Devin DeLeon, who bats eighth, had two triples and a home run in the series last week. Mason Goodin, who bats ninth, is hitting close to .300 and does a good job of setting the table for the top of the order.

"There are not a lot of teams around that can hit the ball as well as we do," Arden said. "We have a lot of guys that can do a lot of different things at the plate. From 1-9, we are as solid a group as I've had."

While scoring 45 runs in four games is impressive, that feat might be eclipsed by a pitching staff that has allowed only three runs during that span with three shutouts.

Jake Wilcox and Goodin did the job on the mound last week as each posted victories. Sunnyvale did not even to turn to Will Moss, who did a lot of heavy lifting during the course of the season.

"We really feel good about any of those guys on the mound," Arden said. "Jake and Mason were the guys who pitched in district, but the way the rotation was set up, Will would get the start on Saturday when we were playing up against 3A, 4A and 5A teams and he did a great job. If it gets to a third game, we definitely feel like we are still in a good position."

With a heavy-hitting lineup and a consistent pitching rotation, there appears to be very few weaknesses. But that has not been the case all season long. Arden had a concern about the defense at one point, but many of those fears have been allayed as the season has progressed, particularly of late.

"That is one of things that excites me the most is how well we have played defensively," Arden said. "That was an area we struggled with early in the season, but these guys have worked hard at it and have just been rock solid here lately."

One of the themes of the season has been Sunnyvale's ability to enact a measure of revenge against some old rivals, whether it was Palmer in the regular season or Franklin and Corsicana Mildred in the playoffs.

The Raiders have never played Gunter before, but there is still an element of the theme present, as a few years ago, it was Gunter that handed Arden's Krum team a playoff loss in his final game at the school.

Regardless of the subplots, the ultimate goal is the same is it was before the season started and that is making a run at the state championship.

"It would be real nice to see that (theme) continue, but the main thing we want to do is get past the regional semifinals," he said. "We were there in 2010 and a lot of these guys were on that team. Back then, we were very young and you could tell they didn't really know what to expect, but this year is different. They know what to expect and they have confidence that if we play our game, we're going to win.

"They are confident, but they also play loose. Nothing really gets to them and I think having that past experience is a big reason why. I think we are peaking at the right time and hopefully that will continue again this week."

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