Coastal Bend Baseball: Champions Return, Newcomers Emerge for 2026 Season

Spring baseball is just around the corner here in the Coastal Bend. From district rivalries to Whataburger Field showdowns, high school players and coaches are preparing for the challenges ahead of them, as their communities rally behind them. Teams from all around the area settle their disputes on the field for one common goal, bringing home a state championship

The London Pirates, one of two teams from the area to take home a state championship trophy, look to continue that same mission as they head into 2026. Leading the pack are two Power 4 conference Division I commits, Christian Olivares (USC) and Aiden Salinas (Miami).

The Calallen Wildcats have similar motives as London, as the other school to earn a state championship. The Wildcats are led by the State Champion MVP Drayton Mitchell, who is committed to Texas State University. Both teams are Diamond Pro/THSB No. 1 seeds in their respective Class A classifications.

Two teams who have been unable to make it over the hump are the Tuloso-Midway Warriors and the Veterans Memorial Eagles. The Warriors are led by familiar faces to the Coastal Bend, Head Coach J.K. Moody and Assistant Coach Jesus Vela. District rivals to Calallen, the Warriors are looking to finally win a district championship and surpass them to state. In last season’s playoffs the Warriors and Wildcats battled through an 11-inning showdown where the Wildcats prevailed 1-0, winning in the last inning.

The Eagles are headed by Coastal Bend coaching legend Lee Yeager, who led the Carroll Tigers to a state championship in 2010. Yeager battled metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma in 2025 and continues to recover. The Eagles, like the London Pirates, have a pair of their own Division I commits. Rodolfo (Trae) Hernandez and Jordan Garza both committed to Dallas Baptist University. In 2025, the Eagles fell in a third-round, three-game series to Smithson Valley, 7-6.

Coastal Bend district Predictions

5A Region IV District 29  

1. Corpus Christi Veterans Memorial
2. Corpus Chrisi Ray
3. Alice
4. Corpus Christi Ray
5. Corpus Christi Carroll
6. Gregory-Portland
7. Flour Bluff
8. Corpus Christi Moody
9. Corpus Christi King
10. Corpus Christi Miller

4A Region IV District 30

1. Sinton
2. Beville (Jones)
3. Calhoun
4. Rockport-Fulton
5. Ingleside

4A Region IV District 31

1. Calallen
2. Tuloso-Midway
3. Robstown
4. Kingsville
5. Zapata

3A Region IV District 29

1. Odem
2. Taft
3. Mathis
4. West Oso
5. George West
6. Aransas Pass

3A Region IV District 30

1. London
2. Bishop
3. Orange Grove
4. San Diego
5. Banquete
6. Santa Gertrudis Academy