Grandview, Centennial players selected to all-star game

Jun. 4—Burleson Centennial's Matthew Stancliff and Grandview's Donnie Dycus will represent their respective schools — and Johnson County baseball — after being selected to play in the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association All-Star Games on June 18-19 in Round Rock.

The Class 2A-4A game, which Dycus will compete in, is scheduled for noon on June 18 while the Class 5A-6A game, which Stancliff will play in, will be 6 p.m. June 19. Both games will be played at Dell Diamond.

Stancliff had a huge season for the Spartans, helping Burleson Centennial to a 23-win season and berth in the regional quarterfinals. The two-year starter hit .458 with 33 RBIs, four home runs and 44 runs with 11 doubles and five triples.

After putting up big numbers for the Spartans to finish out his Centennial career, Stancliff said he's honored to be selected to play in this all-star game.

"It means a lot," Stancliff said. "I'm glad I have the opportunity to be able to play at Round Rock and wear my high school uniform one more time. I've worked hard for this moment and I'm glad to see it paying off."

Centennial Coach Art Senato said he's proud to see Stancliff's work and production recognized on a state level.

"He's got the numbers to make it, for sure," Senato said. "He was the best hitter on what I think was a really good team that went three rounds in the playoffs. He hit all season. He never had a down turn. If he had a game where he had no hits, he'd come back the next game and get three hits. He never went into a slump — I don't like that word but that's the word most people identify with — but he never got cold all season. He hit all season long. He hit good pitching. He hit average pitching. He hit bad pitching.

"People would pitch around him and he'd take his walk and then steal second base. He's probably the best leadoff hitter I've ever coached in regards to seeing pitches and his production. He's not your old-school typical leadoff guy that's going to steal 40 bases in a season. He's more of a new-school leadoff guy that's going to be a great hitter, hit for a little bit of power and he'll take his walks. He broke the school record for walks in a season and for a career. He's on base nearly 60% of the time. You can't ask for more than that from a leadoff hitter."

Stancliff said he's looking forward to playing in this game for a number of reasons.

"I think I'm most excited to play at such a beautiful stadium, play with a couple big names and play in front of a bigger crowd," he said.

Despite putting up huge numbers for the Spartans, especially this season, he didn't receive the amount of offers that would usually come with his production. Despite that, Stancliff said he is excited to continue his career at Southwestern Assemblies of God University.

"Always being the smaller guy sort of set my limits in a way and SAGU just so happened to be one of few colleges that believed in what I can do and they gave me an opportunity to play collegiate ball," he said.

Senato said while the honor of being selected to play in an all-star game is due to Stancliff's hard work, it's also a good thing for the Spartan baseball program.

"It's huge — it's definitely good for our program," he said. "It's good for all of our underclassmen to give them something to shoot for from an individual standpoint. I'm not much of an individual awards guy but I understand that some kids are. When I was kid I wanted to be all district and selected for things like this. What I tell our kids is, the better our team does the more individual awards you're going to get. The teams that finish in last place, they don't get too many guys on all-district. That's what I tell our guys."

Dycus has been a cornerstone player the past four years for Zebra baseball. This season, Dycus hit .321 with a .400 on-base percentage and recorded a team-leading 25 RBIs with 20 runs and eight stolen bases offensively. On the mound, Dycus went 5-1 with four complete-game outings and one save. He struck out 51 batters with only 29 hits, 13 walks and 11 earned runs allowed in 40 2/3 innings for a 1.89 ERA. Defensively, Dycus had a .930 fielding percentage in 33 games played and had a team-high 56 assists.

His play helped Grandview to back-to-back district championships and a 23-win season with a run to the regional quarterfinals.

As a junior last season, Dycus was a first-team selection to the THSBCA All-State team as well as an All-Johnson County and all-district first-team selection.

And now Dycus said he's excited to finish out his high school career as an all-star.

"It's a great honor to be selected to the THSBCA All-Star Game," Dycus said. "It makes me feel like all the hard work I've put in throughout my life is paying off. I'm excited to be competing with and against the best baseball players in the state. I'm most excited about having the opportunity to play against the best players in the state. I love competition and am excited to be able to face the best in the state."

Grandview Coach Riley Good said what stands out about Dycus is his work ethic.

"It's just the work he's put in," Good said. "He's a four-year varsity kid. He's worked his butt off every day, every year to put himself in a position to be selected for this. He comes in and gives everything he has for his team. He's a great teammate. He does everything the right way. He does everything we ask of him. We're happy he got selected for it."

Throughout Dycus' career with the Zebras, he's played every infield position except catcher and has served as one of Grandview's go-to pitchers.

"I don't think there's one thing that stands out about his game other than he does a lot of things really, really well," Good said. "He's not going to burn the base paths down but he does a great job of working at-bats and he's very intelligent on the field. He uses that to his advantage and plays hard and works his butt off in all parts of the game."

Like Senato, Good said Dycus' all-star status is also an added bonus for Grandview baseball.

"Not only is it great for him and his family and shows off all his hard work, but everybody reads that pamphlet and they see Grandview in there," Good said. "It's a big deal for him his family first, but it's also great that he's getting to wear 'Grandview' across his chest when he goes and plays down there."

While the Zebras came up short in their pursuit of reaching the state tournament, Grandview experienced great success during Dycus' four years. But he said he's more grateful for something else.

"I'm most proud of being a part of such a close team," Dycus said. "It was like a family to me being with all the guys. I'm really going to miss playing and practicing every day with them. They taught me a lot throughout my years of playing with everyone."

Dycus' baseball career will continue at the next level after he signed with the University of Dallas in December.

"After going on the visit there, I could tell it was where I wanted to go," he said. "The coaches and players made me feel at home and it already feels like a family. I'm also excited to have the opportunity to play both ways — pitch and play infield. I've always done both throughout my life so I'm excited to still be able to do both at the next level."

Class 2A-4A North roster:

Pitchers: Easton Ballard (Spring Hill), Caleb Jameson (Prairiland), Reece Elston (Stephenville) and Trevor Miller (Anson)

Catchers: Brock Tijerina (Andrews), Ty Marthiljohni (Celina) and Noah Rodriguez (New Deal)

First base: Jason Gomez (Farmersville) and Kohle Kerin (Shallowater)

Second base: Jacob Holder (Aubrey) and Aaron Jett (Maypearl)

Shortstop: Zach Blizel (New Home) and Donnie Dycus (Grandview)

Third base: Brady Roman (Early) and Coy DeFury (Melissa)

Outfielders: Cooper Ewing (Valley Mills), Trey Oblas (Gunter), Ty Cunningham (Iowa Park) and Taber Childs (Harleton)

At large: Peyton Shaffer (Brock) and Brock Bearden (Texarkana Pleasant Grove)

Coaches: Brady Webb (New Home), Brent Paris (Melissa) and Justin Swenson (Stephenville)

Class 2A-4A South roster:

Pitchers: J.D. Thompson (Rusk), Kolby Killough (China Spring), Connor Zaruba (Yoakum) and Carson Courtney (Lufkin Hudson)

Catchers: Rylan Galvaon (Sinton), Dylan La Rue (Blanco) and Rashawn Galloway (Boerne)

First base: Jayson Cantu (Raymondville) and Connor Risinger (Woodville)

Second base: Kasen Jeitz (Centerville) and Cade Boyer (LBJ Johnson City)

Shortstop: Collin Coker (Sweeny) and Tracer Lopez (Cameron Yoe)

Third base: Ryne Abel (Lorena) and Logan Davis (Thorndale)

Outfielders: Brandon Craig (La Vernia), Nolan Williams (Salado), Kameryn Henderson (Orangefield) and Lucas Guzman (Rogers)

At large: Tyler Merriman (Shelbyville) and Cody Pfeffer (Bellville)

Coaches: Clint Jaeger (Fayetteville), Brian Slater (Clifton) and Stephen Westbrook (Jasper)

Class 5A-6A North roster:

Pitchers: Tate Evans (Flower Mound Marcus), Zane Petty (Corsicana), Griffin Herring (Southlake Carroll) and Jonny Lowe (Rockwall Heath)

Catchers: Ethan Hodges (Creekview), Easton Carmichael (Prosper) and Easton Culp (Harker Heights)

First base: Wilburn Furniss (Nacogdoches) and Dayton Tockey (Weatherford)

Second base: Matthew Stancliff (Burleson Centennial) and Eythan Hewell (Denton)

Shortstop: Ryan Dollar (Houston MacArthur) and Kolby Branch (Lucas Lovejoy)

Third base: Xavier Melendez (Odessa Permian) and Cade McGarrh (Frisco Liberty)

Outfielders: Will Franklin (Amarillo), Caleb Bergman (Plano East), Tavion Vaughns (Cedar Hill) and Jared Thomas (Waxahachie)

At large: Holt Gibson (Lubbock Cooper) and Adrian Najar (South Grand Prairie)

Coaches: Heath Autrey (Corsicana) and Mario Barrett (THSBCA)

Class 5A-6A South roster:

Pitchers: E.J. Garcia (NB Canyon), Shane Sdao (Lake Creek), Thomas Marquardt (San Antonio Harlan) and Colby Diaz (Leander Rouse)

Catchers: Dylan Maxcey (Friendswood), Mason Lampe (Brenham) and Zachary Mazoch (Georgetown)

First base: Ricardo Garza-Gongora (Laredo Alexander) and Jackson Kalisky (San Antonio John Marshall)

Second base: Jayden Dubplantier (Summer Creek) and Noah Shipp (Fulshear)

Shortstop: Kaeden Kent (Lake Travis) and Jalin Flores (San Antonio Brandeis)

Third base: Juan Guzman (Shadow Creek) and Joseph Sanchez (North Shore)

Outfielders: Jace LaViolette (Katy Tompkins), Kasen Wells (Smithson Valley), Justin Vossos (Fort Bend Ridge Point) and Blake Binderup (College Station)

At large: Michael Benzor (New Caney Porter) and Connor Benge (Montgomery)

Coaches: Kelly Kerlin (Manvel) and Chad Koehl (Smithson Valley)