Keller, Lovejoy & Aledo Each Win Baseball State Titles | UIL 2026

Twenty-eight years at the helm of Keller baseball, and Rob Stramp saved the best for last. The retiring head coach guided the Indians to their first-ever UIL state championship Saturday, a 2-1 victory that capped one of the more memorable sendoffs in DFW coaching history.

Tennessee commit Cole Keninger was the story on the mound. Pitching through an injury that kept him out of the lineup, Keninger went 6 2/3 innings, struck out eight, and surrendered just one run. Keller got on the board in the first on a Brock Burkett sac fly off the bat of Maximus Segura, then added an insurance run in the sixth when a Carson Lesley grounder to short scored on a fielding miscue. Connor Davenport came on to close it out in the seventh, inducing a dribbler to first for the final out. Keller wins, 2-1.

Lovejoy didn't let a schedule change slow it down. With the game moved from Friday night to early Saturday morning, the Leopards jumped on Mission Sharyland immediately. Lucas Smith's two-run double staked Lovejoy to a 3-0 lead after one inning, and a Carson Branch bunt in the fourth—which scored both Logan Corley and Brady Sommers—effectively put the game away at 5-1. Logan Corley added an opposite-field single in the fifth to plate Tanner Brown, and Tyler Scarborough finished off a complete game as Lovejoy won 7-2 for its first state title in program history.

In the 5A Division I final, Aledo picked up right where it left off. The Bearcats, going for back-to-back championships against Lake Creek, got a strong performance from LSU commit Lucas Nawrocki, who carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning. Landon Barnes drove in two runs in the third, and Nawrocki added another with an RBI single to put Aledo up 3-0. Carhett Love came on in the seventh to close it out with a strikeout, giving Aledo a 3-1 win, back-to-back titles, and the program's third state championship overall.