Stewart Johnson
It's official: the seniors of the Carroll baseball team will need their own graduation ceremony.
The Dragons came from behind to defeat Denton Guyer, 3-2, in Game 2 of the Class 6A Region 2 semifinals and book its ticket to the regional finals.
Carroll's fourth round opponent will be Flower Mound Marcus, with the winner of the best-of-three series advancing to the Class 6A state tournament. Game 1 is at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 22 at Dallas Baptist University.
May 23 is Game 2 -- and graduation for Carroll ISD. As has been done in the past when the Dragon baseball team advances this far into the playoffs, a separate graduation ceremony will be scheduled just for the seniors on the team. This year, the seniors will graduate May 20 in a special on-field ceremony.
"It's really an incredible testament to the resiliency of this group," said Larry Vucan, Carroll head coach. "We were committed to be in a position to get back to the final four. We have a huge test this weekend in Marcus but are confident that we will give our very best, competitive effort to win the series."
Carroll Baseball announced the entire fourth round schedule on X (formerly Twitter):
It's the first time in three seasons the Dragons have advanced this far in the playoffs, and it was far from easy.
Trailing 2-1 in the sixth inning and a do-or-die Game 3 looming, Carroll loaded the bases then tied the game on a walk by Cam Dean. A sacrifice fly by Tanner Carson then gave Carroll the lead, then Carson pitched the seventh inning for the series-clinching save.
Starting pitcher Ethan Baiotto threw 105 pitches and struck out ten Guyer batters.
The Dragon's regional final opponent, Marcus, lost Game 1 of its regional semifinals series to Trophy Club Byron Nelson but came back to win Games 2 and 3. En route, Marcus won District 5-6A with an overall record of 22-8, opened the playoffs with a bi-district round win over McKinney Boyd and defeated Jesuit in the area round.