PORT NECHES — It is just a baseball field.
The Port Neches-Groves Indians are reminding themselves of that fact this week heading into the Class 5A Region III area round against Santa Fe.
The three-game series is at Baytown Sterling High, starting at 7 tonight. The Indians have been eliminated at Sterling the last two seasons.
Game 2 of the series is at 7 p.m. Friday and Game 3, if necessary, is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday.
“I know a lot of people are concerned because we are playing at Baytown Sterling,” PN-G coach Scott Carter said. “Our record has not been great there the last couple of years. On the flip side of that, that was the previous teams. This team is 1-0 at Baytown Sterling this season.”
The Indians on the road beat Baytown Sterling, 5-1, in their first regular-season game on Feb. 25.
“We played really well that day,” Carter said. “We are not looking at it like it is a bad field. We think it is a great field and we just have to go over there and play baseball. I don’t where we play or who we play is going to matter. What is going to matter is how we show up and how we play. If we play our style of baseball then we have a chance to win a baseball game.”
PN-G (20-7) is also trying to get past the second round jinx that has haunted the Indians over the last five years.
The Indians last got past the area round in 2010 when the team lost in the regional semifinals to Friendswood.
PN-G has been knocked out in the second round four of the last five years. The Indians were eliminated in the first round by Crosby in 2014 and lost last year in this round to Fort Bend Ridge Point.
“We want to win these two games so people will stop saying we are unlucky there,” PN-G junior shortstop Nathan Vidrine said. “We want to prove everyone wrong I guess.”
Vidrine comes into the series batting .279 with 13 runs scored and 15 RBI with five doubles. He has a .872 fielding percentage.
He has noticed a difference within the Indians who are currently riding a 14-game winning streak. PN-G last lost on March 18, a 2-1 decision to Goose Creek Memorial.
“We have to keep working hard and keep practicing,” Vidrine added. “We are definitely better than we were at the beginning of the season. We have come together as a team and it is like a bond.
Santa Fe (20-10) is led by the pitching of Jacob Blankenship. He has nine wins on the season and a 0.77 ERA with 82 strikeouts. Batters are batting .177 against the Santa Fe senior.
“Santa Fe is a good ball club,” Carter said. “We have some common opponents and they beat most of them and some have beat us. They have a good pitching staff. Their starter (Blankenship) is a strikeout guy and is 9-0 on the season. We expect a good game.”
One common opponent the two Indians squads have is the Nederland Bulldogs. Santa Fe defeated Nederland 9-5 on Feb. 25 at the Santa Fe Tournament.
Jeremy Hughes threw that game for Santa Fe and pitched five innings. He gave up five runs on 11 hits with three strikeouts and one walk. Santa Fe pounded out 12 hits against the Bulldogs and took advantage of five Nederland errors.
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Gabriel Pruett: 721-2436. Twitter: @PaNewsGabe