In their first game of a heated rivalry series against Flower Mound Marcus on Tuesday, the Cowboys fell into a 5-0 hole after the first inning. Despite clawing back with four runs in the remaining innings, the Marauders downed Coppell, 6-4, at Marcus High School Baseball Field in Flower Mound.

The Cowboys return home on Friday to host Marcus in the second game of the series at Coppell ISD Baseball/Softball Complex, first pitch at 7:30 p.m.

With the stakes of falling two games behind first place in district play, it is important for Coppell (11-5, 4-1 in District 6-6A) to split the series if it wants to stay on pace for the district championship.

“It is a big game for us but there’s a lot of ball games left, we aren’t even half way through district play,” Coppell coach Ryan Howard said. “But, we never need to get swept and it is a good opportunity for us to split [the series] and get some momentum going into next week.”

According to senior pitcher Landry Fee, it’s important for Coppell to repay the favor by getting ahead of Marcus early and making the Marauders fight back the entire game, just as the Marauders did to the Cowboys on Tuesday.

Of Marcus’ plethora of talent, Marcus senior center fielder Jake Duer, a TCU commit, was the District 6-6A Hitter of the Year last year. Junior catcher Van Klein, an Air Force Academy commit, senior pitcher Tate Evans, a Yale commit, and junior outfielder Caden Sorrell, a Texas A&M commit, are all parts of Marcus’ firepower as well. 

According to Coppell senior pitcher Andrew Nester, he expects to get the start against the Marauders on Friday. Of his pitches, his favorite to throw is a two-seam fastball. Nester is planning on attacking the Marauders early and setting the tone for the remainder of the game.

“My pitching plan is to get ahead and stay ahead,” Nester said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s with a fastball or a breaking ball, I am always trying to go after the hitters and make them uncomfortable.”

With such bitterness between the two teams, both communities showed out at Tuesday’s game with packed student sections and a full, roaring crowd. According to Fee, the atmosphere should be similar.

“The atmosphere on Friday will be great,” Nester said. “Marcus is a team that we like to beat and [the Marauders] got one from us on Tuesday. I would look for us to be fired up and ready to beat them on Friday.”

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