For the first time since 2019, Van Vleck will play in the area round of the high school baseball postseason.

The Leopards advanced to the area series against Orangefield after defeating Coldspring-Oakhurst 2-1 in a best-of-three series Thursday and Saturday. Van Vleck won Games 1 and 3, while Coldspring-Oakhurst took the middle contest.

Van Vleck will play Orangefield in a three-game series Friday and Saturday in the Class 3A, Division 1 postseason. The Leopards play Orangefield at 6 p.m. Friday at Santa Fe High School and at 2 p.m. Saturday at Baytown Lee High School. If necessary, Game 3 will take place 30 minutes after the end of Game 2.

The Leopards capitalized on four Trojan errors in the series opener Thursday at Hitchcock High School. Coldspring-Oakhurst’s mistakes allowed unearned runs to cross. The Trojans outhit Van Vleck by one. 

Meanwhile, Javian Fuentes gave Van Vleck six stellar innings on the mound. The Leopards ace struck out nine batters to two walks. Coldspring-Oakhurst had five hits and one run off Fuentes. Three of the five hits came in the top of the first inning. 

Van Vleck showed patience at the plate with six walks in the game, including four in the bottom of the first. The Leopards took a 2-1 advantage when Crayden Sabrasula walked with the bases loaded.

Van Vleck never gave away its lead; instead, it added four runs in the fourth and one in the sixth. Wade Hutson, Fuentes, Collin Ashworth and Sabrasula each had a hit. Sabrasula drove in two runs, while Hutson, Fuentes and Ashworth each knocked in one. 

Van Vleck took its 1-0 series lead into the weekend, where Game 2 took place at the Sheldon ISD Sports Complex in Houston. 

Coldspring-Oakhurst cleaned up its errors in the second game and held Van Vleck to three hits. Starter McCade Hilton threw a complete game with 99 pitches, allowing three hits and two runs with eight strikeouts and two walks.

J.T. Corenfield, Ashworth and Hutson each tallied a hit. Hutson hit an RBI double in the fifth and got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the third. 

Coldspring-Oakhurst grabbed an early lead after scoring one run in the first and three in the second. The Trojans added an insurance run in the sixth after Van Vleck cut their lead in half during the previous frame. 

Van Vleck used three pitchers, with none throwing more than 55 pitches. Coltin Beasley drew the start and allowed eight hits and four runs in three innings. D’Mauri Roy and Tanner Birchum combined to throw three innings, surrendering one hit and one unearned run. 

With the series knotted at 1-1, Van Vleck head coach Jacob Cadle went to Lincoln Roberts to start Game 3. 

The Leopards’ offense provided their starter with three runs in the top of the first inning. Corenfield wore a pitch too far inside, Roberts singled, and Hutson drove in Corenfield with a single. Roberts scored with a sacrifice groundout from Fuentes. Logan Carter laid down a sacrifice bunt to score the third run.

Roberts escaped an early jam in the bottom of the first. He loaded the bases without recording an out but struck out the cleanup man. Roberts induced a line drive to the shortstop Fuentes, who flipped to second for an inning-ending double play.

Van Vleck loaded the bases with two outs in the second inning but did not add to its total.

After allowing a two-out single in the second, Roberts began to cruise. He retired eight consecutive Trojan hitters across the second, third, fourth and fifth innings.

Coldspring tallied three straight singles in the fifth before a groundout to Roberts allowed one run to score 3-1. Van Vleck intentionally walked the next batter to load the bases. Roberts struck out the next batter with the bases loaded to get out of the inning. 

Roberts threw a complete game, allowing eight hits and one run. He struck out seven and walked three. 

The Leopards’ three-run first was all they needed. Roberts and Huston each had two hits. Corenfield, Sabrasula and Juan Guevara tallied one hit apiece. 

Van Vleck will play Orangefield in Round 2. The District 22-3A champions swept Diboll in the opening round with 3-0 and 7-5 scores. Orangefield is 23-6 overall, averaging 6.0 runs scored and 2.8 runs allowed per game. 

The winner of the area series will advance to the regional semifinals, where it will play Fairfield or Whitney. Van Vleck has not reached the third round in the past two decades.Â