Orange Grove faces Lytle in UIL regional semifinal baseball series

Orange Grove’s postseason push has Jim Wells County planning around Bulldog baseball again, with families, alumni and local fans heading to Kenedy for a regional semifinal series that could move the program another step toward the state tournament. The Bulldogs will face Lytle in UIL 3A-DII action at Joe Gulley Park, a matchup that comes as only 11 Coastal Bend baseball teams remained alive in the regional semifinal round after 28 advanced into the playoff field earlier in the postseason.

Game 1 is set for Thursday at 7 p.m., Game 2 for Friday at 7 p.m. at the same site, and Game 3, if needed, is scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m. That format raises the stakes immediately, and for Orange Grove it turns a county baseball story into a weekend travel plan, a booster-club focus and a schoolwide point of pride. The Bulldogs are not just staying in the bracket. They are still part of the state-level conversation.

Orange Grove entered the series at 22-13-1, according to the UIL bracket information tracked through MaxPreps, while Lytle was listed at 28-6 and 10-0 in district. The two schools already met on March 6, when Lytle won 6-4 in a neutral tournament game. On the matchup page, Orange Grove’s team batting average was listed at .344, with an on-base percentage of .463, slugging percentage of .493 and fielding percentage of .916. Mason Hill, Weston Jackson and Chase Guevara were identified among the Bulldogs’ statistical leaders, giving Orange Grove supporters names to watch as the series unfolds.

Orange Grove reached this round after sweeping Lyford on May 9 in the 2026 UIL 3A-DII playoffs, winning 3-2 and 5-3 before taking the deciding game 3-2. The Bulldogs have also carried recent postseason memory into this spring. In 2025, Orange Grove beat Lytle 2-1 in Game 1 of the regional semifinal in Karnes City on a walk-off double before the Pirates forced a second game later that night. That history gives this pairing a familiar edge.

The current run also follows Orange Grove’s breakthrough last May, when the Bulldogs reached the UIL state semifinal for the first time since 1994, the same year the program last won a championship. First-year head coach Jordan Chambless led that team behind Zach Wright, who posted 111 strikeouts and two no-hitters, and Eli Arias, who added 65 strikeouts and one no-hitter. With another deep run underway, Orange Grove baseball remains one of the county’s clearest signs that the small-town program is still playing for something bigger than one series.