Goshen head coach Robby Kinsaul said he is thankful the hours put in on the diamond has paid off for the Eagles.

“We are excited to be one of the teams in 2A to have the opportunity to continue on playing,” Kinsaul said. “There are a lot of teams whose baseball season is over. We’re one of the fortunate ones that get to play.”

The Eagles start the first round of playoffs on Friday, travelling to Luverne to face the Tigers in a double-header. First pitch is at 4:30 p.m. An if-necessary game will be played on noon on Saturday.

The Eagles lost to the Tigers earlier this season, but Kinsaul hopes the team will fair better during Friday’s playoff matchup.

“We’ve played them once during the regular season and they beat us 15-5,” Kinsaul said. “I think the biggest thing is we’re playing better baseball right now. I can tell by the latter part of the season we’ve been playing well and doing little things right. I believe that’s what helped us the most: playing baseball the right way.”

The Eagles have a solid pair of athletes on the mound in Bryant Stephens and Ty Worthington, but Kinsaul said the team could still have a few tricks up its sleeves when it came to pitching.

“Of course we have Bryant and Ty, but I was very please with Brandon Wilks when we played New Brockton,” Kinsaul said. “He faced nine batters and struck out eight of the nine. Braxton Stewart and Hunter Williams they’re good to go, too. We’ve got some guys that we can throw. We’ve just got to be able to throw strikes and get out of the inning.”

The team faced New Brockton last Thursday in an away doubleheader, falling 2-1. Kinsaul said the team had taken the losses hard but knew his team would be able to bounce back against Luverne.

“We know the challenge ahead of us,” Kinsaul said. “Their lineup is pretty tough and they have three really good pitchers. I want us to win the game for the whole team, but it would be very nice for our three seniors to make it the second round, and that’s what we’re focusing on. One game at a time, and one pitch at a time. I think that’s the only way we can advance.”