The Trojans Push for the Playoffs

Head Coach Kenny Matthews talks with his team during the Anderson Trojans game against the Bastrop Bears on Tuesday, April 15th. Grabiel Silva/Reporting Texas

For the first time since the 2022 season, the Anderson Trojans are heading back to the postseason. The Trojans have won 15 of their last 16 games and are currently 20-6 on the season. They have also clinched the District 24-5A title with a perfect 11-0 district record with one more game to go. 

“It’s really exciting, we haven’t been in the postseason since my freshman year, and I’m excited to go with the guys and, you know, hopefully have a long run,” said Gus Begert.

The team has plenty of talent on the roster, with senior Gus Begert committed to play at Dartmouth next year, senior pitcher/infielder Ben Waisman is going to St. Edward’s and junior Utility player/Pitcher Connor Comeau committed to play at Texas A&M.

“It’s great to have both of them, they’re great people and players,” said Ben Waisman, “They elevate us day in and day out and we kind of just mesh perfectly and then they elevate everyone else on the team.”

After a couple of seasons without making it to the playoffs, the squad believes they are ready for the challenge. Anderson has faced tough competition during the regular season, which has prepared them for their upcoming postseason run. 

“We’re very confident that we can play with the best of them.” Comeau said. “We’ve played Round Rock, we’ve played Westlake, we’ve played those teams where we get punched in the mouth and we just punch them harder back.”

Last Tuesday, the Trojans took on the Bastrop Bears in a district matchup. After a sloppy start to the beginning of the game and quickly falling behind 4-0 against the Bears, the Trojans had to fight their way back to keep their hopes of a district title alive.

That’s exactly what they did, the Trojans scored six unanswered runs to win 6-4. Connor Comeau contributed with four runs total and the Trojans took advantage of errors from the Bears en route to their ninth district win.

The hard earned win reflected the team’s ability to battle through adversity and come out on top. After losing in the final game of a three game series each of the team’s last three playoff appearances, the ability to come back and win games in tense situations is key for the Trojans as they look to make a deep playoff run. 

“The work doesn’t change, the work is the same and so we work every day to prepare for these moments. So this is one step in the right direction of a long journey.” said head coach Kenny Matthews. “Hopefully it’s not the end of the road and then we can kind of continue this for hopefully a couple more weeks, maybe a month or two.”