Michael and Justin Swenson would rather the focus in this week’s Iowa Park-Stephenville baseball playoff series to be on their hard-working players.
That’s perfectly fine. It makes sense. Neither Swenson brother will be taking the mound or digging into the batter's box in this Region I-4A area matchup.
But the brother vs. brother coaching storyline that will play out beginning Friday in a best-of-three series at Abilene Christian can’t be ignored. Justin, the third-year Stephenville coach, will be staring across the dugout at some of the seniors he used to coach and a brother he shares a strong bond with.
“I’d rather play the No. 1 team in the state than play against him because there’s going to be a lot of emotions that go into it and it’s draining,” said Justin, who’s younger by eight years. “It’s one of those bittersweet moments.”
After the teams split non-district games the first two seasons, the Swensons didn’t schedule each other in 2018. But when a couple days of heavy rain hit North Texas, they had an impromptu gathering at Iowa Park’s new turf diamond.
“As much stress as it is and as bad as we say we don’t like it, deep down we’re both competitors and I want to beat him and he wants to beat me,” Justin said. “We weren’t going to play this year and somehow it happened.”
Now it’s happening for the first time in the postseason after Iowa Park survived Snyder last week in a one-game matchup and Stephenville swept Benbrook.
The Yellow Jackets lost their March 29 non-district meeting against the Hawks 5-1 and Justin lost a coin flip for a one-gamer last weekend. Michael said his daughter told him to call heads, advice he was happy to take.
“She’s 2-0 – she won being home team for us last week. I’m horrible at them,” Iowa Park’s coach said. “That’s probably why he flipped me because he knows I lose them all the time. Even when he was coaching with me, that’s just how it went. I couldn’t win a flip to save my life.”
Justin coached this year’s Iowa Park seniors when they were freshmen and hasn’t been surprised by the Hawks’ accomplishments. Iowa Park’s only losses in 26 games this season were to No. 3 Robinson and No. 7 Godley.
The Yellow Jackets (15-13-2) haven’t had quite that much success and were forced to overcome key injuries to their ace and catcher. But Justin believed his group of underdogs is ready for the challenge.
“We knew what was waiting for us. It’s going to be a fun challenge, but you can’t look at it like it’s between me and him. It’s definitely not,” Justin said. “I’ve told my players we’re going to face off with either 15-20 more times in our life and I’ve got three seniors who could be playing their very last baseball games ever so that’s how I’m treating it. I’m sure he’s going to do the same.”
Michael Swenson shares those same sentiments and agreed with Justin that the novelty has worn off since their first meeting in March 2016. That doesn’t make it any easier for their mother Deanna, who will likely sit right behind home plate wearing a custom T-shirt that has both teams’ logos.
“She’s sweating it out. She tries to stay low-key,” Justin said. “She’s worried about people stopping her and asking who’s she’s going to root for.
“She said she roots for the team that’s losing, so it she’s rooting for you, then that’s not good.”
Iowa Park aces Chris Dickens and Derek Hostas will have more to say about if the Hawks can advance to the regional quarterfinals. But you better believe there’s some bragging rights at stake at the next Swenson family gathering, too.