No. 8 Bullard’s season ends against No. 1 Calallen in state semifinals
Published 11:32 pm Saturday, May 30, 2026
BUDA – Bullard’s deepest run in the baseball playoffs in program history came to an end on Saturday afternoon as No. 1 Corpus Christi Calallen took a 14-4 win in five innings to complete a sweep of a Class 4A Division 1 state semifinal series at Moe and Gene Johnson High School.
The No. 8 Panthers and Wildcats battled for eight innings in Game 1 on Friday with Calallen rallying for a 4-3 victory.
“Last night, obviously, just some tough luck and hats off to them,” Bullard head baseball coach Chad Sherman said. “They’re a great baseball club. And today, just kind of got overwhelmed. We fought those two, three innings to get it back to four and had some bounces not go our way. Like I said, give them credit. They can hit, and they hit pitches that you’re supposed to hit. And it just kind of got away from us, but super proud of our guys.”
On Saturday, Bullard loaded the bases in the top of the first inning but came up empty.
With two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the first inning, Calallen got a three-run double from Dallin DeBellas. Aidan Flores followed with an RBI single to give the Wildcats a 4-0 lead.
Gage Alderman led off the second inning with a solo home run. After an RBI double by Kage Korenek, Ethan Foster had an RBI single to cut the score to 4-2.
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Bullard tied the game in the top of the third.
Jackson Holt had an RBI single. Alex Hammons had an RBI sacrifice fly to tie the score at 4-4, but Tucker Stainback tried to advance to second base and was thrown out for the second out. Jonah Hunter then grounded out to leave the go-ahead run at third.
Wyatt Duke homered with one out in the bottom of the third to help Calallen regain the lead. The Wildcats tacked on three more runs in the inning. Flores had an RBI double. Reese Rusher reached on an error while driving in a run. Drayson Gamez had an RBI single, making the score 8-4.
Calallen got a home run and two triples in the bottom of the fourth inning to extend the score to 12-4. DeBellas had an RBI triple. Jagger Batek hit a two-run home run. Rusher had a triple and scored on an errant throw.
Bullard got runners on first and third in the top of the fifth, but freshman Ace Gonzalez struck out Hunter to end the frame.
Drayton Mitchell led off the bottom of the fifth with a single, and Blake Quinn (6-6, 235) followed with a walk-off two-run home run to end the game and the series.
Bullard (28-12) had 10 hits on Saturday. Foster and Bryce Roberts had two hits each. Kage Korenek, Gavin Skaggs, Collin Brooks, Holt, Alderman and Hammons all had one hit. Alderman (home run), Korenek and Brooks’ hits were all extra bases.
DeBellas led Calallen (38-2) with three hits and four RBIs. Gamez, Mitchell and Flores all had two hits. Quinn, Batek and Duke all homered. DeBellas had three extra-base hits, and Rusher and Flores each had an extra-base hit.
Foster allowed eight runs – seven earned – on eight hits with two strikeouts and four walks in 2.1 innings. Skaggs allowed three runs on two hits with a strikeout and one walk while recording two outs. Evan Downing allowed three runs on three hits with one strikeout in one inning.
Mitchell allowed four runs – three earned – on nine hits with one strikeout and three walks in 3.1 innings. Gonzalez allowed no runs on one hit with one strikeout and one walk in 1.2 innings.
With Quinn at the plate in the bottom of the fifth inning, Sherman called timeout and took his seniors out of the game to a standing ovation from the Bullard faithful.
Bullard graduated 10 seniors – Luke Alexander, Ty Rigsby, Foster, Holt, Landis Newberry, Roberts, Tannon Wynne, Kage Korenek, Hunter and Hammons.
“It’s been a blast,” Kage Korenek said. “I love playing with these guys. I’ll never forget these guys. This was our goal from the start. It’s crazy with the schedule we played and how far we came is really impressive. I’m going to miss it, but we had a heck of a season. I’m just so grateful for the team and the coaches to get to play with these guys.”
“It’s about the players,” Sherman said. “That’s why we do what we do, and that senior class, at least the third round four straight years. I don’t have the wins in my head, but I would imagine around 120 wins, which is pretty special. And two district titles, and the first team to ever go to the fourth round two years in a row and now the first team to ever go to the semifinals. There’s nothing but love from me and what they’ve done for our program. Kudos to them and there’s some guys that are going to continue a career, and of course, I’ll be keeping up with them every step of the way. Hopefully they get to play for a long time.”
Calallen advances to face Pleasant Grove in the Class 4A Division 1 championship game at 9 a.m. Friday at Dell Diamond in Round Rock. It will be a rematch of last year’s championship game, when Calallen took a 5-3 victory.