Bishop High School’s varsity baseball team capped off another successful season with seven players recently being named to the All-District 32-2A roster.

Carl Huizar was honored as the district’s Offensive Player of the Year. Esteban Cuevas was selected as 32- 2A’s Best Utility Player.

Picked for the first alldistrict team were Pitcher Joey Olvera, First Baseman A.J. Gaona and Catcher Tommy Cavazos. Named to the second all-district roster were Dave Gonzalez, Robert Gaona and Jacob Beltran.

“We always knew we had good players and some of these guys have really improved these past few years,” Head Coach Nathan Borden said. “Four of these guys were seniors who had been playing varsity baseball for us since they were thrown in there as sophomores so they have been at it for a long time.”

Borden applauded all of his all-conference players especially his recently graduated seniors.

“Joey went out and won the first game of our playoff series against Freer in dominating fashion,” Borden said in regards to the Badger’s recent playoff campaign. “He also came out in other first games and pitched well enough for us, so he had some high quality starts in the playoffs and has consistently gotten better since his freshman season.”

Huizar’s hitting this season is also noteworthy.

“Carl ended up hitting .490 and brought in 33 runs while also playing very well at first base,” Borden said.

Gaona’s ability of zoning in from the mound was huge for Bishop.

“A.J. was our big Game Three pitcher and our toughest kid as far as mental capacity,” Borden said. “He really had a lot of heart, desire and leadership capabilities that really made him the guy for us to go to in those third games.”

Cavazos swung the mightiest bat for the Badgers especially when runners needed to be moved.

“Tommy hit .500 right on the money this season and batted in 44 runs,” Borden said. “I can’t think of anyone else that I have ever had on a team that finished the season with those numbers as he was a very clutch player for us the whole year when runners were on base.”

Ranked numero uno in the state early in the season, the Badgers went 23-11- 1 overall and finished in third place in 32-2A with an 8-4 record. In the playoffs, Bishop advanced all the way to the Region IV semifinals. The state’s top ranking, Borden said, proved to be a formidable task in holding.

“When we were ranked number one - which really has a lot to do with the amount of pitching and position players you have coming back - it was kind of tough on the guys at first because we felt a lot of pressure,” Borden said. “It seemed like every time an opponent scored a run against us, or even beat us, it was like they had just won the world series. I told the guys, ‘This is what happens when you’re ranked number one, every time you play somebody they’re going to bring their A-game, pitch their best guys and do all these things to beat you while pulling out all the stops just to say they beat the state’s number one team’.”