Matt Vines

COUSHATTA – The Red River baseball program will get another shot at Doyle as the No. 23 seed Bulldogs head to No. 10 Doyle for the first round of the Division III Non-Select playoffs.

The best-of-three series starts with a Thursday doubleheader beginning at 11 a.m. with an if-necessary game Friday (11 a.m. start).

The matchup is a replay of the 2024 quarterfinals series in which Doyle won two games. All three games were decided by one run with Doyle winning 1-0 and 2-1, sandwiching a Red River 1-0 win.

Doyle ended Red River’s best-ever baseball season as the program advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time after a program-record 25 wins.

Red River (14-16) remains a dangerous out with players who have experienced playoff series wins.
The Bulldogs won two of their last three contests (Choudrant and Ebarb) to end the regular season after an eight-game slide in district play four of which were by two runs or less.

Doyle (18-14) is one of the hottest teams in Division III as the Tigers have won 14 of their last 16 games. The District 8-3A champions started the season 4-11 against a tough slate.

The series winner advances to play at No. 7 seed Jena this coming week.

The playoff format has changed in that each round is a best-of-three series instead of just the first three rounds.

That means teams won’t advance to Sulphur’s McMurry Park until the championship series.

Divisions I, II, and III will implement this change while Divisions IV and V remain one-game series in every round.