HS baseball playoffs: Friendswood battles Angleton

Friendswood will battle Angleton in the Class 4A Regional quarterfinals on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.

Angleton coach Udean Pounds sat down with us to break down the match-up.

"Friendswood has playoff history going for it," Pounds said. "Their season record is not impressive, but don't let that fool you. They played a very tough schedule."

Pounds said that Friendswood is solid defensively and on the mound and called the team "always consistent" at the plate.

An interesting wrinkle in this matchup is the one-game format. Pounds said the plan had been for a best-of-three series before Friendswood changed course. Winning the coin toss meant that Charlie Taylor's squad got its wish.

"I was very surprised by the single-game selection because in the past I know they have looked at that as a sign a team is short on pitching," Pounds said. "I don't see that in them, so why the single game? I don't know. Maybe they saw something in the Foster series that raised some doubt and pushed them in that direction.

"I don't know that anyone has an advantage in a single-game playoff unless one team has a shut-down pitcher, like Dawson had in Travis Duke -- which is why they went to a single game on us also. Both teams have a 50-50 chance of coming out on top and it usually comes down to who blinks first."

Friendswood defeated Richmond Foster in the Class 4A Bidistrict round, and Houston Davis in the Class 4A Area playoffs.

Angleton eliminated Pearland Dawson in the Class 4A Bidistrict round, and Houston Austin Class 4A Area playoffs.

First pitch is slated for 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.