Lucas Lovejoy pitcher Tyler Scarborough (11) delivers a pitch to a Mission Sharyland batter during the top of the 3rd inning of play. The two teams played their Class 5A Division ll state championship baseball game at Dell Diamond in Round Rock on June 6, 2026.
Steve Hamm/The Dallas Morning News
ROUND ROCK — Lovejoy waited all year, so a few more hours wasn’t a big deal.
After learning the 5A Division II state championship game had been postponed from Friday night to Saturday morning, Lovejoy didn’t mind, they just stayed loose. Their focus carried over into Saturday morning when they convincingly won the program’s first-ever state title 7-2 over Mission Sharyland.
“We’ve been sitting around for a year waiting, so we were ready,” Lovejoy head coach Ryan Gross said. “All they needed to do was say play ball and our guys were ready.
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“There was no doubt in our mind, we were prepared. We sat in the hotel all day yesterday, just saying, ‘play ball anytime, anyplace, tell us when,’ and we were going to be ready.”
Lovejoy was eliminated in the state semifinals last season and lost in the championship game in 2024. This season, the team was a buzz-saw, having only lost once in the playoffs through 12 games, so a small delay wasn’t going to deter their focus.
“We actually came up (to the Dell Diamond), watched some of the Aledo game, hit some BP, and just stayed loose,” senior TCU pledge Logan Corley said. “We knew there was probably a chance we were going to play this morning, so just be ready, get some sleep.”
Lovejoy built a quick 3-0 lead in the bottom of the opening frame. The run was started by Sam Houston pledge Lucas Smith’s RBI-double to the wall. Sharyland got one back in the top of the second on an RBI single from Omar Cantu.
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Georgia pledge Tyler Scarborough got the start on the mound for Lovejoy and went the distance, finishing with six strikeouts. Key fielding from Smith behind the plate kept the Lovejoy advantage at two runs when he caught a runner stealing second in the top of the fourth to close out the inning, and in the bottom of the frame, a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt from Carson Branch added to Lovejoy’s lead to make it 5-1.
Branch was named the game’s MVP and finished with one hit and three RBIs.
“Carson’s special,” Gros said. “Carson’s a great teammate and Carson is someone who leads the proper way, so to see him get that opportunity and shine in the biggest moment is no surprise. He’s waited his turn for a long time, so to see him get that opportunity and shine on the biggest stage is to no surprise to me.”
Sharyland made a change on the mound during the bottom of the fifth after Corley singled to left field and drove in a run on a fielding error after the hit to make it 6-1. Corley finished with two hits and an RBI.
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“It’s been a fun year,” Corley said. “Our culture is that we’re gonna win, and that’s what we’ve been saying all year and we did it.
“It means a lot. I mean, that was my last high school baseball game ever, so it’s pretty nice to end it off on a win.”
Sharyland freshman IJ Garza cut into the deficit in the top of the fifth on a driving RBI-double into right-center. The final run for Lovejoy came via an error to score Zach Carlson. Sharyland finished the game with four errors while Lovejoy had none.
“A lot of patience and a lot of heartbreak came into that,” Gros said. “They earned it, they deserved it, and they’re right where they needed to be.”