Tonight, the baseball team will play in the state semifinals for the second year in a row. The Panthers (30-14-2 overall, 10-2 in district) will face Sharyland (35-4 overall, 15-1 in district) on May 30 at 6 p.m. at Northeast Sports Park in San Antonio. The best-of-3 series will continue at the same field on Saturday at 1 p.m.
While the Panthers reached the State Championship a year ago, some of their players are experiencing the state semifinals for the first time. This year, the Panthers have 10 underclassmen who played sub-varsity last year and have adjusted to the style of varsity.
For sophomore Finn Stevens, who has been a starting pitcher for the team, he understands the importance of a state championship but wants to keep his composure throughout the playoffs.
“I’m always nervous,” Stevens said. “But I tell myself that I’ve been doing well all season and nothing changes in the playoffs.”
In the Regional Championship, the Panthers fell to Port Neches-Groves, 8-3, in game one of the series. Thirty minutes after the first game, the Panthers won the second 8-4 in extra innings. They went on to win game three the following day.
Even though the team spent the rest of the day celebrating, they are back to focusing on the main goal of winning a state championship.
“We almost flipped the bus on the way back,” junior Lionel Spears said. “We spent the day bonding but now we are back on track.”
This is the Panthers’ third trip to the state semifinals. They made their first appearance in 2018 when they lost to Northwest Eaton, 3-2, in eight innings. The team returned in 2025, defeating Liberty Hill in three games to reach the state title game for the first time in school history. The boys lost to Grapevine, 9-5.
There has been no shortage of work put in by the players this year in hopes of returning to Round Rock for a title. During the offseason and preseason, the team worked out together three times a day. They met up for morning weights, practiced during the class period and then had after school practice as well.
By the time district play started, the team still practiced twice a day.
Junior Myles Chaney said the work they have put in over the past few months has been rewarding as the team plays in the state tournament.
“It feels like all of our work is paying off,” Chaney said. “I just hope we continue to go deeper and deeper and make it to state.”
When practicing on sub-varsity last year, underclassmen only had to practice during the period and sometimes after school, for a total of about two hours. Now on the varsity level, they have to practice almost double the amount of time and are doing harder workouts.
“JV wasn’t as intense,” Chaney said. “From morning weights to practice a few hours later, it is definitely more tough than before.”
As a call-up for playoffs, the biggest challenge for sophomore Daniel Rudney was the change of speed of the game. During the second round of the playoffs, he was added to the batting order and did not record a hit.
Entering the third round against Weiss, Rudney’s goal was to continue how he played on JV to be successful. In the final game of the series, he hit a grand slam to solidify the team’s spot in the regional final.
“The pitching is definitely way faster,” Rudney said. “To make it to State though, I have to keep being aggressive at the plate and keep doing what I am doing.”
Throughout all the struggles, the team’s final goal is to win a state championship.
”Everyone tries because everyone knows what we are playing for,” Chaney said. “We all have the same goal.”
