Prairiland Patriot Baseball Advances to Playoffs || Content Sponsored by: Weezys

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After a two-year hiatus, Prairiland Patriots baseball has returned to the playoffs.

An 8-4 victory Friday night over the Commerce Tigers assured the Patriots of an extended season. And when Winnsboro’s 6-5 defeat of Rains became official about 20 minutes later, Prairiland had earned the 4th playoff seed via their sweep of Rains earlier this season.

The Patriots face Bells in bi-district action. Game 1 of the three-game series is scheduled for 7:00 Wednesday night at either Princeton High School or Paris High, depending on the weather. Game 2 is set for 5:00 Friday at Princeton with Game 3 to follow immediately after, if needed. Should weather cause a postponement, the two teams will play Saturday.

This marks Prairiland’s first baseball post-season appearance since 2022, when the Patriots were district champions.

Prairiland pounced on the Tigers early as lead-off hitter Austen Gordon smoked the first strike he saw into center field, then used his speed to turn it into a game-opening triple.

After Mason Pusateri walked, Gordon scored on a sacrifice fly from senior Madox Yaross. Clean-up hitter Keeton Kinabrew then lined a single into left field that plated Pusateri for a 2-0 Patriots lead.

Commerce came into the contest winless in district play, but motivated by “Senior Night” and their final home game of the season, the Tigers were ready to challenge the Patriots and thwart their playoff hopes.

Prairiland right-hander Kinabrew easily retired the first two Commerce batters, but then the Tigers rallied.

With a runner on base, Austin Cooked stroked a triple down the left field line, just out of reach of Patriots diving left fielder Wyatt Moore. Jadden Coleman followed with a rocket past the outstretched glove of Patriots diving first baseman Fischer Morrison, and all of a sudden the score was tied 2-2. The inning ended with the Patriots trailing 3-2.

Commerce added another run in the third, following a Patriots error and a triple to right field by Coleman.

The Patriots were again plagued by leaving runners stranded and were unable to push runs across for four innings. In total, Prairiland left 10 runners on base Friday night.

After the Tigers took a 2-run lead, the Patriots defense made play after play to back their pitcher. Junior second baseman Jayden Whitaker played flawlessly with five put outs on the night.

Prairiland’s big inning was sparked in the unlikeliest of ways. Starting the 6th inning down 4-2, Patriot Dakota Berquist hit a high infield pop fly for what would seemingly be the first out of the inning. But Berquist sprinted from the batter’s box on contact and when the ball dropped harmlessly to the grass, the Patriots senior was already speeding toward second base.

Commerce corralled the ball and forced a hurried throw that sailed into right field and Berquist came all the way around to score and cut the lead to 4-3.

Freshman Jack Phillips then showed the grit of a seasoned veteran at the plate, fouling off a pair of consecutive full-count pitches before earning a base on balls.

Gordon, one of the Patriots leading hitters the entire season, used poise and patience at the place and drew a four-pitch walk. Pusateri followed with a perfect sacrifice bunt moving pinch-runner Adam Anderson and Gordon into scoring position.

Yaross was hit by a pitch (for the second time in the contest) to load the bases. Kinabrew delivered again with a drive to center field plating Anderson and Gordon, putting the Patriots back in front 5-4.

Morrison, Prairiland’s senior first baseman, drove in the final run of the inning with a hard liner to left field, bringing home Yaross, and giving the Patriots a little more breathing room at 6-4.

Kinabrew retired the Tigers in order in the 6th with two strikeouts and a soft ground ball back to the pitcher.

The Patriots added to their lead in the 7th inning. Berquist singled to start the inning and later came in to score on a balk.

With Gordon on third base, Pusateri drew a walk but hustled to first base and sprinted toward second when he caught the Tigers defense off guard. When Commerce reacted and tried to throw Pusateri out at second base, Gordon took off for home and added the final run of the night.

Luke Rhoades closed out the game, striking out 3 of the 4 batters he faced.

Kinabrew came up big for Prairiland in the must-win contest, allowing just 2 earned runs, walking only 1 and striking out 9 Tigers hitters. The junior also went 2-for-4 with 3 RBI at the plate.

Gordon and Morrison each had 2 hits for the Patriots.