It’s been known for a long time the 2023-24 school year would be the last one for Rider, Wichita Falls and Hirschi high schools.
Every sports team’s last chapter for the three programs has already been written except one. Rider baseball is the final team standing, and they desperately want their ride to keep going heading into a Region I-5A quarterfinal series against Grapevine.
The Raiders will be playing Game 1 at 7 p.m. Thursday at Hoskins. They’ll head to Grapevine for Friday’s Game 2, and if the series is tied, they’ll return to Hoskins at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Rider coach Jeremy Crouch and the tight-knit team have embraced a #team62 mantra during their last ride together.
“We joke around about being a thorn in the side of progress,” Crouch said. “We’re not ready for the new stuff. It’s going to be great, but our kids take pride in making people think about us and talk about us for as long as we can.”
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This year’s Raiders have already been the most successful in Crouch’s eight years as head coach. They’ve won 26 games (the most since 2013) and advanced to the third round for the first time since 2016.
And they’ve played like a team knowing the importance of closing out a program with one state title and four state appearances over the past two decades.
“It’s one of the cooler experiences because it’s once-in-a-lifetime,” said Alex Wilburn, who closed out Game 3 last week against Midlothian Heritage. “We’re the last high school team playing in WFISD. It’s just a great experience trying to finish it out for the brand.”
Crouch said what makes this team unique is their light-natured personalities. Whether it’s dancing in the batting cages when the famous trumpet tune “Narco” is played or performing WWE wrestling moves in the background of a television interview, these Raiders know how to have a good time.
“It’s taken me a while to come around to them and loosen up a little bit,” Crouch said. “They do have fun and do goofy things, but they’re also highly competitive. And when it’s time to go, they get after it.”
Rider always has pitching depth, and this year’s no different with Tanner Poirot (1.11 ERA) and Champ Wall (2.03 ERA) leading the charge. Sophomore Carter Hoffman has stepped into the fold, while Kreasen Dean and Wilburn are called upon in relief.
After surging to a 6-0 lead Saturday in a do-or-die Game 3, Heritage rallied to pull within 7-5 in the fifth inning. Crouch turned to centerfielder Wilburn, who struck out three in two shutout innings for the save.
“We’ve always had enough arms, but maybe not guys who have thrown big innings or been in big games,” Crouch said. “The deal with Alex is if he’s on, he’s tough to hit. And he was on the other day when we had to have it.”
Even though they didn’t win district, the Raiders entered the postseason with momentum by sweeping District 5-5A champ Aledo. They’ll face a Grapevine team ranked No. 2 by the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association, but they have previous experience with the Mustangs, having lost to them in a three-game area round series last year.
“We know some of their players, how they play and we know we can beat them,” senior Reid Berry said. “We got really close last year, and this is another opportunity for us to move on.”
Wilburn and Berry — who both finished with 5.0 GPAs — are two of 12 seniors who’ll have Rider High School’s final graduation next weekend.
They’d love nothing more than to be even busier with a regional semifinal baseball series. And they’re thankful to get at least one more game on their home turf, too.
“I’m just so glad we get to play at Hoskins again,” Wilburn said. “Our energy over there last year (for the Grapevine game) was crazy. Our crowd will make it a lot more fun for us.”
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