Argyle falls to Magnolia West in 5A baseball state championship

Argyle felt the pain of being inches away from victory as a two-out, seventh-inning rally came up just short in a 3-2 loss to Magnolia West in Saturday’s 5A state championship game.

The Eagles trailed 3-0 with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, but found life as a throwing error and single set the table for two straight RBI singles by Colton Roquemore and JC Davis that left the potential tying run on third base and winning run on second.

Grady Emerson then lined perhaps Argyle’s hardest-hit ball of the day to center, but the center fielder charged in to make the catch on a ball that could have won the game had it ended up more to either side. The Eagles were instead left with a rally and season to be proud of as they came up just short of their fourth state championship.

“That inning defined who we are as a team this year,” Argyle coach Ricky Griffin said. “You’re just going to have to beat us. If you relax, then we’re going to come and get you. That’s maybe the hardest ball hit today, and it just went right to a guy.

“That’s in a gap, and we’re the state champions. That’s how close it was.”

The comeback was emblematic of Argyle’s playoff run, during which it won Game 3s in four of its first five playoff series and triumphed in eight win-or-go-home games overall before falling in the title game. The Eagles overcame Game 1 defeats in three of their five series and came back from a 2-0 deficit in Thursday’s 5-2 state semifinal win over Boerne Champion.

Their two-out rally in the bottom of the seventh nearly gave the Eagles one more come-from-behind victory to punctuate the season.

Argyle (35-11-2) made its sixth state tournament appearance in program history this season, its first year at the 5A level. The Eagles advanced to the state title game all six times, winning the 4A championship in 2015, 2018 and 2019 while losing in the 3A title game in 2014 and the 4A title game in 2022.

In what was largely a pitcher’s duel early, West got the first hit of the game for either team in the top of the third. Cody Palacios drove a ball to the wall in left-center for a two-out double, but the Eagles escaped unscathed after an intentional walk set up a fielder’s choice out on a grounder to third.

Both teams stranded runners on first and second in the fourth inning. Argyle broke through for its first hit in the bottom half of the frame as Micah Roberts beat out an infield single, then Alex D’Angelo reached on an error by the shortstop before a strikeout ended the inning with no runs.

It was one of West pitcher Caylon Dygert’s five strikeouts on the day. The senior Wharton County JC pledge largely shut the Eagles’ bats down by allowing just five hits and two walks, three of those hits coming in the last inning.

“They’re an incredible team,” said Griffin of Magnolia West. “That pitcher, we hadn’t been shut down like that very many times this year. We hadn’t been a great offensive team this year, but he made us look pretty bad at times. That’s a testament to him.”

The Mustangs finally broke through in the sixth as D’Angelo struggled to find the zone. A walk, fielder’s choice and two more walks loaded the bases for West, then Jackson Blank hit a two-run single to center with a third run coming across on an error by Park Prater as he bobbled the ball in center.

Those three runs proved just enough to get the job done as the Eagles’ comeback effort came up one run short.

Still, Griffin will remember his latest group for their resilience.

“When we started the season, I was worried about their mental toughness,” Griffin said. “At the end of the season, they were maybe the most mentally tough team that we had. They were able to turn that around within a season.

“There was just a lot of mental toughness from ‘em.”