As the dust was settling from the UIL’s recent biennial realignment, Austin area baseball teams began their tryouts and scrimmages amidst the fallout. With tournament play now behind them, the teams have zeroed in on the last hurrah of this year’s district races. It will all look different next year, but the future is now for this year’s squads before realignment’s New World Order upends everything in 2027.
Here’s a snapshot of where things stand on the eve of this year’s district races.
District 25-6A
This district has been one of the most competitive in the state in recent years and this year is no exception. If anything, the District 25-6A race is even more wide open than in previous years. A quick peek at the combined records thus far backs this up. The nine teams in this district have a combined mark of 63-56-8 through the final tournament weekend and none of them are more than three games above or below .500 thus far.
Westwood (11-5-1), Round Rock (9-6), and Cedar Ridge (8-5-2) all have a ton of players back from last year’s squads. The Dragons reached the regional semifinals and the Raiders also made the playoffs; how much have the Warriors’ returnees improved from 2025? Vista Ridge (8-6), McNeil (6-7) and Vandegrift (6-8) are all trying to integrate their newcomers with some solid returnees. Hutto (5-7-2) and Stony Point (5-8-2) both seem improved enough to battle for a playoff spot. And then there’s Manor. The Mustangs won one game in 2024 and three last season, often getting bombed by double digits. This year’s squad is 5-4 and has been far more competitive overall. This year and this district will be tough, but congrats to Coach Kenneth Soloff on rescuing the program heading into 5A next year.
District 26-6A
This district will look dramatically different next year with Westlake and Lake Travis moving across the Bi-district bracket and joining the Round Rock teams in 25-6A. Both want to go out with a bang, but the remaining teams have a different idea. Which is why so many eyebrows are being raised by Dripping Springs and Bowie.
Chris Payne’s Tigers were supposed to be rebuilding after graduating the bulk of last year’s 29-win state semifinalists but someone forgot to tell the newcomers. All those upstarts have joined a handful of holdovers to stake Drip to a 12-4-1 start. Meanwhile Bowie, a .500 playoff team last year, has raced out to a league-best 12-3-1 mark heading into district play.
Lake Travis returns a ton of players from their 2025 state semifinalist team which explains why the Cavs drew so much attention this preseason. A 7-8-1 record isn’t what they expected or had in mind but that comes with the huge caveat: tournament baseball is a different animal than regular season baseball. With the starters seeing the bulk of the playing time, look for Lake Travis to, well, become Lake Travis. Westlake (7-10-1) is also off to a slow start under their “new” head coach – Danny Wallce has been around for a while -- but it’s far too early to read much into that.
Austin High (7-6-1) continues to improve under Coach Alejandro Arellanes; the question for the Maroons will be can they compete consistently enough to crack the top 4 and reach the postseason. Akins (5-6) and Del Valle (4-9) round out the district.
Other
Buda Johnson gets overlooked because they’re stuck in a district with San Marcos and teams from New Braunfels and San Antonio for one more season. Keep an eye on the Jaguars. Coach Austin Yager’s squad is off to an excellent 13-3-2 start. And speaking of San Marcos, the Rattlers are off to a 10-7-1 mark which includes a 1-run loss to Johnson as District 29-6A play got underway last week.
District 23-5A
Georgetown and Weiss both reached the Sweet 16 last season and both have a large number of returning All-district caliber players back. That explains why the Eagles (14-2), a perennial playoff power, and the Wolves (13-2-1) are off to such tremendous starts. While they may be overshadowing Hendrickson right now, the Hawks (9-4-2) are also off to a solid start after last year’s post-season surge also propelled them in the third round despite a sub-.500 regular season.
It’s a mad-scramble behind these three as none of the other four teams – Connally, East View, Elgin and Pflugerville – are above .500 heading into district play. Pflugerville is closest at 7-8 and has a nucleus of returning players while East View (5-7-1) looks to return to the playoffs again. Connally (4-7) and Elgin (4-8) are both thin on returning players but still figure to be in the mix for the final playoff spot.
District 24-5A
Break up the Vikings! The Navarro Vikings, that is, as Coach Jacob Anderson’s Vikings (10-2) have already won three more games than last year’s squad. Anderson, meanwhile, the consensus pre-season pick to win the district after reaching the regional finals last year, is off to a solid 9-6 start, including games against a number of playoff-caliber 6A teams.
McCallum, traditionally a solid baseball team, is the only other team above the ,500 mark (with a soccer-like record of 5-4-4) and should return to the playoffs. Bastrop (4-9-2) has guys back from last year’s playoff team, as does Austin LASA (6-10). Cedar Creek (5-10) and Crockett (3-4-1) round out the district.
District 25-5A
This year will mark the swan song for arguably the best 5A district in Texas. Cedar Park, Leander and Rouse are all moving up to 6A next year where they’ll join fellow Leander ISD schools Vandegrift and Vista Ridge in a newly constituted District 24-6A. (They’ll leave behind Glenn, the only remaining LISD 5A school). They will take with them a ton of baseball history and pedigree, meaning we’d all best buckle up and enjoy this final 25-5A rodeo,
Don’t think that Coach Chad Krempin and all the guys he has back on his Rouse Raiders squad have forgotten their uncharacteristic early exit from last year’s playoff. The Raiders (12-2) are playing like they have something to prove. Liberty Hill, on the other hand, got a taste of the promised land, notching 30 wins and reaching last year’s state semifinals. While the Panthers don’t have a ton of players back, those they do are high-caliber, supplemented by the program’s depth as reflected in their 10-3-1 start.
Once a perennial playoff threat, Leander has been off the pace in recent years. Not so far this year as Coach Matt Grissom’s Lions are playing well at 10-4-1.
It’s a mess behind these three with the aforementioned Cedar Park (6-9-1), Hays (7-6-1), Lockhart (6-6-1) and an improved Glenn (7-7-2) all capable of making a run at the playoffs. Only Lehman (2-12) seems off the pace in the early going.
Along with District 25-6A – and as usual -- this is the most wide-open race in the area. District 25-5A will go out with a bang.
District 25-4A
For whatever reason, many of the 4A schools don’t do a great job of reporting results, etc., making it tougher to track what’s going on. Perhaps not surprisingly, it’s those programs that are most successful that are the easiest on which to find information.
All of which explains why District 25-4A is harder to read than their big brothers – but we can see that Manor New Tech (8-3) and Lago Vista (7-5-1), both generally successful programs, are off to good starts. New to the mix this year for one season is Legacy Ranch, the new school in Liberty Hill ISD. Coach Emery Atkisson’s Wranglers are off to a respectable 4-7 start playing with freshmen and sophomores in their first year of varsity. Travis, Northeast, Johnson, Eastside Memorial and LASA, all from Austin ISD, comprise the rest of this district and figure to battle it out for the final playoff spot.
With the tournaments in the rear view, the games count for real from now on.
Play ball!
GAMES
Join the #VYPETEAM
Get up to date news from all over the country!
