The Sharyland Rattlers and Mission Veterans Patriots baseball teams are set to face off this week in the area round.

The Rattlers finished the season with a 13-4 district record and knocked out Brownsville Lopez in the bi-district round. The offense was explosive with Luis Balderas and Cheko Ibarra combining for 7 RBI.

"I like what we did last weekend. We just have to be disciplined in our at bats," Sharyland head coach Austin Bickerton said. "Not chasing bad pitches, get into good counts and as far as our pitchers, we have to dominate the strike zone cause we have really good defense behind out pitchers. If we're able to throw three pitches for strikes we'll do pretty well."

"I have guys behind me that are going to help me no matter what," Rattlers pitcher Fabrizio Salinas added. "They're going to be supporting me and I just have to do my job and hope they'll be behind me."

Mission Veterans swept Gregory-Portland in the bi-district round with a dominating performance by pitcher Gabriel Cantu striking out seven batters in game two.

The Rattlers are focusing on patience at the plate and limiting errors in the field ahead of the matchup.

The series starts on Thursday in Mission with first pitch scheduled for 7:00 p.m and continue into Friday when the teams will shift the series to Sharyland.