Texas League baseball: RockHounds glad to be back in playoffs

MIDLAND Midland RockHounds manager Darren Bush stresses that it’s his job to teach and prepare his players to take the next step along the road to the major leagues.

It seems like celebrating success is part of that routine after the defending Texas League champion RockHounds earned a return trip to the playoffs Friday.

“It was nice to get back in the playoffs,” Bush said of Friday’s victory over the San Antonio Missions that clinched the team’s postseason position.

 “But our guys know that it’s just a step and that there still is a lot of work to do. We want to win the division title, to get players to experience that feeling and understanding the hard work that went into accomplishing that.”

Many of the RockHounds players already have the routine down pat, having been with Bush in Stockton when he guided the Ports to the 2008 California League crown and then last year when the RockHounds won the Texas League crown.

Shortstop Josh Horton, third baseman Alex Valdez, outfielder Archie Gilbert and outfielder Matt Sulentic all have learned under the tutelage of Bush since 2008 and have two rings to show for it.

They’ve watched their skipper, win or lose, come into the clubhouse with the same demeanor every day. Never too high or too low, he’s focused on the task at hand — which is winning.

“Bushy is always even-keeled,” Sulentic said. “I’ve been with him now for three years and he’s always been that way and that’s how we are, too, as a team.

“Even during the season, when we lost a few games in a row or won a few games in a row, we never changed. We just went out there every day trying to win baseball games.”

That’s what Midland needed after falling 3 1/2 games shy of the RoughRiders in the first half, tied with San Antonio.

That meant either Midland had to win the second-half crown. Or, if Frisco won both halves, then the RockHounds had to have the next-best combined record during the 140-game season.

It wasn’t easy for Midland as it faced San Antonio in a crucial four-game series that ended Friday night in the Alamo City — and promptly lost the first two games. But the team, as it has all year, rebounded.

“We need to win two to clinch and we go in and drop the first two,” Bush said, smiling. “But I didn’t see the guys get down and the guys that have been through it before were talking to the other guys in the clubhouse and things we’re fine.

“Now, we still have to win two to clinch, but San Antonio can catch us if they sweep, so that added some pressure. But the team came through and got the job done the last two nights and we’re back in.”

After losing 5-0 on Saturday, the RockHounds need one victory against Frisco as they close the regular season against each other today and Saturday to clinch the Texas League South Division’s second-half title and home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Either way, the best-of-5 South Division series opens with games Wednesday and Thursday at Frisco before shifting Friday and Saturday to Midland.

The site for Game 5, if it is necessary, will be whichever team wins the second-half title.