The Pleasant Home Eagles look to continue their trip through the 2017 AHSAA baseball state playoffs when they take on Millry High School Friday afternoon in Class 1A round-two action.

“This has been a good week of practice,” Eagles’ head baseball coach Chris Mason said. “Practices have been good and the kids are moving around with a lot of energy.”

Mason said that the energy and mind set of his team is right where it needs to be.

“I really like the mind set that we have coming into the playoffs,” Mason said. “This is our second straight second making it to the second round. Last year when we won area, we had T-shirts made. This year when we won, they said it wasn’t about having T-shirts made because they expect to win the area championship. They want more.”

That mind set is something that could help the Eagles do something that hasn’t been done in school history.

“No baseball team in Pleasant Home history has made it to the third round,” Mason said. “These guys want more and they want to do that haven’t been done before. We have eight seniors on this team and they want to leave their mark on this program.”

As for Millry, Mason said the Eagles will have to play good baseball to pull out a series victory.

“They are a good young team,” Mason said. “This year they have played a lot of good teams and they have had a lot of success. They are going to hit the ball well and they have three pitchers that can throw strikes and get you out. Last year, they lost a lot of seniors and this year we have eight seniors. Our expectation is to win and if we don’t, we can’t blame it on being young.”

Mason said one thing he wants is for his team to take different approaches at the plate.

“Offensively, we have talked about not watching as many pitches,” Mason said. “We have to take more aggressive approaches. We have to hit those first-pitch fastballs.”

Swinging early and scoring early are things Mason said would be pivotal in defeating Millry.

“Millry seems to be a very emotional teams,” Mason said. “It’s important for use to get up early and drain their energy. Baseball is a game that can change quickly, and I think the team that can prevent the big inning is going to be the team that wins.”

The best-of-three round two playoff series between Pleasant Home and Millry will begin Friday at 4 p.m. Game two will begin around 6:30 p.m. If necessary, game three will begin at 1 p.m., Saturday.