Community Champions: Americas, Clint & Riverside gear up for Sweet 16 of state baseball playoffs

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- The Americas' Trailblazers baseball team will battle it out with Colleyville Heritage in the Regional Semifinals in Odessa, Texas on Thursday.

One player faced what seemed like a never ending journey dealing with injuries. The junior, Jonah Raya, was expected to be the starting quarterback for the Trail Blazers but suffered an elbow injury early in the season. However, Raya couldn't seem to catch a break. He was also expected to be a started for the baseball team but then broke his ankle right before the start of the regular season."

"Obviously I didn't want to get injured before the baseball season," said Raya. "But, I did and I was just working to get better to get back on the field for the team."

"He's handling a lot better than I have," Americas head baseball coach Jesse Munoz said. "He's been snake bit this whole year and he's barely coming back, he had his first at-bat in the Bi-District playoff game."

The Blazers will get ready to face one of their biggest games of the season as they'll face Colleyville Heritage in the Sweet 16 of the District 5A playoffs.

"Every team still in the Sweet 16 is pretty good," Munoz said. "We just have to focus on what we do, if we make pitches, if we throw strikes, quality at-bats, and we play good defense, we'll be ok. The team we had at the beginning of the year is different from the team we have today. We've had some growing pains, as a coach I look back and it just wasn't what it is today. This is the next step of our goal which is to win a State Championship."

The Trail Blazers will look to make school history as they'll face Colleyville Heritage for game one on Thursday at 5p.m. at Odessa High School.

In Class 4A Division 2, Clint will face Brock High School in the regional semifinals, while Riverside will face Graham High School.

Clint will take the field Thursday in game one at Midland College.

Riverside will play Friday at Andrews High School in Andrews, Texas.

If both Clint and Riverside win their series, they'll both meet in the regional final with the winner advancing to the Class 4A Division 2 Final Four.