When New Hope wrapped up its Region 1-5A series with Caledonia earlier in the year, head coach Lee Boyd had a feeling that it wouldn’t be the last time the two arch rivals would see each other again on the baseball field.
He felt the 2026 chapter of their story hadn’t fully been written after an unsatisfactory series split between the teams and that more drama would be in store down the road – and his inkling has turned into reality.
A first-round two-game domination over Cleveland Central by a combined score of 27-2 punched the No. 3-seeded Trojans’ ticket to the Class 5A quarterfinals to take on the No. 1-seeded Region 1-5A champion Cavaliers, who were sitting and waiting thanks to a forfeit from their first-round foe Provine. With a trip to the semifinals on the line, the clash between the two rivals gets underway today at 7 p.m. in Caledonia.
Caledonia head coach Chase Reeves said to bring a comfortable seat and an ice cold beverage, but leave the fireworks at home. Those will be put on display on the diamond.
“It’s going to be absolutely electric,” Reeves said. … “(They will all be) night games. I know in the regular season the atmosphere was amazing at both places, and I think it’s going to be a lot better this time around.”
Game 2 is slated for 7 p.m. Saturday at New Hope (18-11) and if needed the series will conclude Monday at 7 p.m. in Caledonia (19-9).
While seeing the two teams battle during the regular season has been a common sight, their looming playoff duel is a rare occurrence. The last time both squads squared off in the postseason was in 2019 in the Class 4A ranks – which Caledonia won 4-2 and 11-8. If recent history, though, is any indicator of the future, the margin of victory this go around might be much smaller.
New Hope took down Caledonia 4-2 in their first matchup this season, which gave the team its first win over Caledonia pitcher Reid Garrett in four years. The Trojans managed to produce six hits off Garrett and capitalize on two fielding errors for the win while their own flamethrower Brayden Edmiston rang up 10 strikeouts and gave up only five hits in a complete game. Their second and final game of the series went the opposite way in a pitchers’ duel as hits were hard to come by for either squad. New Hope hurler Carson Willis doled out 12 strikeouts while Caledonia’s Aaron Harris fanned nine, and it took a fielding error and a long scrambling run from first base to home by Cooper Shelnut to deliver a 1-0 win for Caledonia to split the series.
Boyd said there is a good chance some similar dramatics will be in store for this go around.
“Both of those games have been pitching duels,” Boyd said. “I think both teams have solid rotations and so I’m not sure what this series will hold. I feel like both teams are a little better offensively than they showed in that series, so we’ll kind of see what happens.”
In a tale of two different paths to the second round, Caledonia found itself missing out on the first-round action due to Provine’s forfeit. This left the team in a strange spot of getting a guaranteed opportunity to play in the quarterfinals but left with having to stay ready by scrimmages.
“I think it’s kind of a double-edged sword,” Reeves said. “I think the last month we played really good baseball and in one sense you don’t want to stop playing because you are playing well, but on the flip side of that some arms get some rest and guys get to rest their legs a little bit. We’ve been in the weight room kind of staying up to speed there. … Credit to the players and the rest of my staff, I thought last week we were able to create a really competitive environment for them and they responded well.”
Before the break in play, the Cavs were on a seven-game heater that included an 8-7 win over Class 7A Starkville to end the regular season. In that game the bats were steady for the Cavs with seven hits, two of which were solo home runs by Garrett, and six RBI. Garrett, a two-way player and Liberty University commit, is in his final playoff run with the Cavs. Better known for his pitching prowess, he’s been an impact player for the squad his entire time as a Cavalier at the plate as well. He is second on the team in hits (22) and has seven of his team’s nine home runs for a team-high 27 RBI.
“He’s got some real pop in his bat,” Reeves said. “He can change any game with one swing. … The kid can really hit, especially when he just stays really, really simple and trusts what we work on.”
On the other side, the Trojans come into the contest with the momentum of a dominating stretch of baseball without any breaks in play. Last week they belted Cleveland Central 14-1 and 13-1 to improve their win streak to six games. In that first game, New Hope had six different batters produce two hits each and only needed six hits to clinch the series finale. Similar to Garrett, Edmiston, a two-way player, is second on the team in hits (22) and leads with five of the Trojans’ homers.
It’s been a solid surge of offense for New Hope and Boyd hopes that will continue against Caledonia.
“We feel good about where we are offensively,” he said. “We know it’s going to be a challenge. Those guys do a really good job of mixing up their pitches, throwing all three pitches for strikes, so we are going to have to be disciplined and swing at pitches in the zone and lay off the pitches that are out – and that’s easier said than done.”
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