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Texas baseball signee Jayden Duplantier looks forward to teaming with his brother

Summer Creek's Jayden Duplantier tries to stretch a double into a triple for the South team during its 7-3 win over the North at the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association Class 5A and 6A All-Star game at Dell Diamond on Sunday. Duplantier will play for Texas next year.
Summer Creek's Jayden Duplantier tries to stretch a double into a triple for the South team during its 7-3 win over the North at the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association Class 5A and 6A All-Star game at Dell Diamond on Sunday. Duplantier will play for Texas next year.

Incoming Texas baseball player Jayden Duplantier didn’t have to look hard to find a roommate for the upcoming school year.

The brother of current Longhorns pitcher Andre Duplantier II, Jayden will share an apartment with his older brother while trying to help Texas back to another College World Series.

As Andre competed in Omaha over the weekend, Jayden took part in the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association Classes 5A-6A Senior All-Star Game at Dell Diamond on Sunday, helping the South squad to a 7-3 win.

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A mainstay at shortstop the last few years for Summer Creek who helped the Bulldogs to the District 21-6A title and a run to the Class 6A Region III quarterfinals this spring while hitting .364 with an on-base percentage north of .400, Jayden hammered a double to left and spent a fair amount of his day defensively at second base.

“I’m really just working on my hitting and trying to understand my body and my swing,” Jayden said of what he’s focusing on before reporting back to Austin later in the summer. “I’m in the weight room a lot trying to put on some pounds and just trying to be the best I can be to try and help the team win.”

Though his own prep season ran deep into May, Jayden kept track of what Texas and his brother did this spring and was enthralled by the program’s postseason run to Omaha.

“Watching the way they compete and the winning standard they have, and of course seeing my brother pitch, has been awesome,” he said. “I was just on the outside looking in and rooting for them.”

Playing second base Sunday with a variety of different shortstops — including Lake Travis’ Kaeden Kent — Jayden showed he’s not stuck at any one position. In fact, he said he’ll go wherever the Texas coaching staff tells him to.

“Anywhere on the infield, and later on down the road if need I feel like I can play outfield,” he said. “Anywhere on the field they need me.”

But one thing he won’t have to worry about when he returns to Austin is the living style of a new roommate, as he already has years of experience with his new one.

Lake Travis shortstop Kaeden Kent throws to first for an out during the South's 7-3 win over the North at the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association Class 5A and 6A All-Star game at Dell Diamond on Sunday. Kent will play at Texas A&M next season.
Lake Travis shortstop Kaeden Kent throws to first for an out during the South's 7-3 win over the North at the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association Class 5A and 6A All-Star game at Dell Diamond on Sunday. Kent will play at Texas A&M next season.

“It’ll be a comfortable transition (away from home),” Jayden said with a laugh. “It’s a blessing to have (Andre) as guidance and be there. I know my parents are proud and looking forward to it.”

As to the game, the South won despite producing just four hits, and nearly all of the game’s offense came in the final four innings.

The South took the lead for good in the top of the sixth when Lake Creek’s Shane Sdao — whose two scoreless innings on the mound helped him to win MVP honors — singled and eventually scored on a groundout to break a 1-1 tie, with Smithson Valley’s Kasen Wells touching home on a throwing error on the same play.

Another future Longhorn, San Antonio Brandeis’ Jalin Flores, singled and scored in the seventh, with Kent drawing a walk and eventually coming home later in the inning to push the South advantage to 5-2.

A two-run single by Brenham’s Mason Lampe finished the South’s offense in the ninth.

Rouse pitcher Colby Diaz earned the win on the mound, throwing two innings and yielding no earned runs with two strikeouts.

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“It’s a huge honor to play here at this stadium in this game,” said Diaz, who will suit up for Texas State next year. “It’s helped me build relationships with people who will be at the same level I am who I may see down the line.”

Lake Creek pitcher Shane Sdao was the named the game MVP after the South's 7-3 win over the North at the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association Class 5A and 6A All-Star game at Dell Diamond on Sunday. Sdao pitched two scoreless innings to win the honor.
Lake Creek pitcher Shane Sdao was the named the game MVP after the South's 7-3 win over the North at the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association Class 5A and 6A All-Star game at Dell Diamond on Sunday. Sdao pitched two scoreless innings to win the honor.

The Raiders’ ace the last two seasons who helped them to an appearance at the state tournament as a junior and share of a district title as a senior, Diaz noted the experience Sunday will help prepare him for what he will see in college.

“Everybody here is going to a Division I school or a top junior college, so they’re all going to battling for the same spots that I will be in the future,” he said.

Like most of his teammates and opponents on the field Sunday who are headed to Division I schools, Diaz will report for a July summer school session to get his college career started, but he’ll always have fond memories of his time as a prep athlete.

“It was a fun ride,” he said. “Baseball was what carried me through high school and kept me active and happy.”

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas signee Jayden Duplantier will play infield for Longhorns