High praise for Rattlers
Coaches Pompa, Garcia and Thompson share accolades
The Sharyland Rattlers’ baseball team is one win away from the UIL 5A DII State Championship. They entered the UIL State Playoffs as District 31-5A champions. They’ve since proceeded to claim Bi-district, Area, Regional Semifinals, Regional Finals and State Semifinal championships; all in the course of five weeks. But their work is not yet finished. That’s because tonight at Dell Diamond stadium in Round Rock, Texas, the Rattlers will be out to become the only 5A DII baseball team in the state of Texas to end their 2026 playoff run with a win.
The Rattlers have already made Sharyland ISD and Rio Grande Valley baseball history by being the first SISD, and only the fifth RGV, team to reach the State Final. Should they win tonight, the Rattlers will forever be known as the first ever UIL State Championship baseball team from the Rio Grande Valley! In addition, they will join the 1961 Donna Redskins’ football team and the 2024 Weslaco Lady Panthers’ softball team as the Valley’s only UIL State Championship teams in sports other than soccer and cross-country.
The Rio Grande Valley’s high school baseball programs have not only produced many great players, but they have also produced many long-tenured and legendary coaches. Coaches who have seen it all and who appreciate how special and how unbelievably difficult it is to do what the Rattlers have done so far. One of these OG coaches is the McAllen High Bulldog’s head baseball coach Eliseo Pompa.
Pompa, who played baseball for the Mission Eagles and went on to be drafted by the Montreal Expos, is one of the best baseball players ever to come out of the Valley. He went into coaching after playing at the AAA level for the Expos and after starring in the Mexican League in 1973-74. He was also a member of the original RGV Whitewings. His head coaching career however began at Sharyland High School in the early 80s under then Athletic Director Bucky Rodriguez.
Pompa, who is in his 24th year of coaching at McAllen High also coached at Mission High off-and-on for 20 years. With his extensive and impressive background in baseball, both as a player and a coach, Pompa is more than qualified to share how tremendously difficult it is to do what the Rattlers have done this year.
“At the beginning of every baseball season, every coach’s goal of course is to make the playoffs and hopefully make a run and go through several rounds and basically to get to Round Rock,” Pompa said. “That’s the goal for everybody. I mean this is great for what we call now the 956. It’s been a great run and it’s something that we’re proud of. We’re just hoping that the Rattlers can take care of business on Friday.”
In years past, the UIL State Semifinals were also played at Dell Diamond. Now it’s only the Finals. That makes the fact that the Rattlers are playing there tonight even more impressive.
“It’s a great atmosphere,” Pompa said. “I think when Pioneer went up there, and I think one year Harlingen South went up there, I mean it’s a great atmosphere when you get all the parents from one school and the parents from the other school and they cheer for their kids, I mean it’s something to be proud of if you get to that level. And with the new format it’s even better because this last round that Sharyland won, that would’ve been the first game being played in the state tournament before.”
Another living legend among the Valley’s baseball coaches is recently retired Manuel “Ricky” Garcia of the Palmview Lobos. Garcia, a former college baseball player and longtime assistant coach at La Joya High, not only chalked up 351 wins during his 17 years with the Lobos, but he also led them to two regional final appearances and eight district championships, including five in the past five years.
Garcia also expressed his amazement and excitement over what Sharyland High head baseball coach Austin Bickerton, his assistant coaches and his players have accomplished so far this season.
“It’s amazing, I’m proud of them,” Garcia said about the Rattlers. “Coach Bickerton is doing a heck of a job out there with his team and his coaching staff putting it all together. I know that as a school you compete against great ball clubs here in the Valley but people don’t notice that until they finally see them at the state level. I know it was what 19 years ago that we had Harlingen South out there, and Coach Tony Leal is the one who took his team out there, and who said that it is great to see a team go deep in the playoffs and hopefully win a State title. And I’m wishing them the best and I know that the Valley is behind them.”
One thing that most every baseball coach counts on is leadership from the upper classmen on their team. Garcia is no exception as he understands fully how he and Rattlers’ head Coach Austin Bickerton would not have near the success they have had without that leadership from within the team.
“The leadership of our players is always strong,” Garcia said. “We want all our kids to be leaders so we expect them to understand that they need to help each other out, to encourage each other when you’re out there playing. I’m sure every program has that. You want your leaders to step up and back their teammates and support them, even when things are not going right for your own teammates, you’ve gotta be there for them so they can get over it and get going in the right direction to be able to be successful.”
This year there are eight seniors on the Rattlers’ roster. Win or lose tonight, these eight players will be taking to the field for the final time as Sharyland Rattlers. The seniors are shortstop Santiago “Santi” Balderas, center fielder Nic Valdez, catcher Luis “Bicho” Cienfuegos, pitcher Roy Rodriguez, pitcher Sergio “Cheko” Ibarra, first baseman Santiago Soto, Abraham Ibarra and Daniel Hinojosa.
With a 41-year career of coaching on his resume, all at Sharyland ISD, Richard “Dickie” Thompson is most certainly one of the Valley’s all-time great coaches. He is also one of those coaches that you would assume has seen it all. And while he is no longer the SISD Athletic Director like he was when the Rattlers’ soccer team won the State Championship in 2013, he is excited about the possibility of the Rattlers’ baseball team matching that achievement by bringing a State Championship trophy home to Sharyland High.
When asked if he sees any similarities between the Rattlers’ State Championship winning soccer team and this Rattlers’ baseball team, Thompson said, “It just seems like the team we had in 2012, they just fought, fought, fought and just would not give up. They’d get behind, come back and win it. And when you look at this baseball team, we have three good, solid starting pitchers and we have the backups that come in and have been doing an outstanding job. Our team will get behind by maybe two runs and it’s no big deal. They’re going to continue to fight all the way through seven innings. This team’s resilience and desire to never, never give up and to keep striving whether it’s one game down or they get beat the first game, it never fazes them. They just will not give up.”
Thompson went on to share how he’s seeing more and more signs of the excitement over what the Rattlers are on the precipice of achieving from within the Sharyland ISD community and across the Valley.
“I know that our administration and school board are just so excited about what’s going on and getting to the final game, one game take all. They’re excited, our school is excited, the people in our community and I think in the whole Valley in general. I’ve seen stuff on Facebook about getting behind Sharyland from people outside our district. So I think it’s just a time that we’re all celebrating and hopefully we can knock that door down. We’ve been pounding on it…the Valley’s been pounding on it for many years, so hopefully in baseball we can knock that door down this week.”
So what is it that has made the 2026 Sharyland Rattlers’ baseball team historically successful? Is it their hard work? Is it their determination? Is it their leadership? Is it their belief in themselves? Is it their refusal to accept defeat? Is it their talent? Simply put, the answer to all these questions is yes. That is what’s so special about this team. They’ve put it all together and by doing so they’re one win away from accomplishing what no other Valley baseball team has EVER accomplished. Go Rattlers!!!
