When asked about his team’s chances in its first-ever playoff appearance, Guyer baseball coach Johnny Kinzy was very matter of fact and wouldn’t let on an inch.

     “It’s playoffs, you never know how you will match up,” he said of his team’s first round best-of-three series with Saginaw Boswell. “We played them early in the year and won. But that means nothing.”

     It’s the same sort of level-headed approach his players have taken all season long. The formula resulted in a 12-2 District 5-4A record and a share of the league title with Denton Ryan.

     “Of course, beating Denton Ryan (in the season finale) didn’t make our season,” Kinzy added. “We want to go as far as we possibly can in the playoffs. These guys are well deserving.”

     By the time this story goes to press, Game 1 of the best-of-three series will be in the books. Game 2 is slated for 7:30 p.m. on Friday at Boswell, and if needed, Game 3 is at noon on Saturday at La Graves Field – home of the Fort Worth Cats.

     When these two teams met during the regular season, they were just 11 games into the season. The Wildcats ended up winning that game 6-4 to win the Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD Tournament. It was also part of a 14-game win streak for Guyer that stretched between February 28 and March 31.

     Guyer only lost three games after that. Boswell jumped out to an early 6-1 record in its district and ended up finishing 10-5. They enter playoffs, however, having finished the regular season at 2-2 thanks to tough losses to Birdville and Fort Worth Brewer.

     “They are a good team, and any time you get to the playoffs you can get beat,” Kinzy added. “They are a solid defensive team and it will be a challenge for us.

     Kinzy wouldn’t say who would start the series on the mound. All signs point toward Brad Kottman, but with it being a series, the Wildcats might not want to completely wear out Kottman early should they need him in a possible Game 3 scenario.

     Kottman was instrumental down the stretch in securing at least a co-district championship. In that season finale, he gave up two runs on four hits in a 4-2 win – avenging his team’s 4-2 loss to the Raiders back on April 3. He was a perfect 9-0 in district and carries a 1.33 earned run average into the postseason.

     Offensively, Guyer is pulling out all the stops. They have five players batting .388 or higher.

     “You just never know what’s going to happen in the playoffs,” Kinzy said. “These guys have been here since Day 1 and they are very deserving of this chance. They are level headed and are very aware of what they have accomplished. But we aren’t done by any means, and we’d like to keep going as far as we possibly can in the playoffs.”