BRIDGE CITY — Anyone with knowledge of a stronger baseball district in Class 4A than 24-4A may want to contact Bridge City coach Chad Landry.

“Top to bottom, I’d like to see a better one,” the eighth-year Cardinals’ skipper said Monday. “You didn’t get a day off, where some districts, you might get a day off. You might get an opportunity to rest a few players and feel good about yourself. We don’t have that option.”

But Bridge City (20-7-1, 9-3 in 24-4A) was rewarded after a tough district schedule. The Cards shared the 24-4A title with Silsbee.

“It really prepares us,” senior pitcher Tod McDowell said. “… It’s a really tough district, but it helps us throughout the playoffs.”

All four playoff qualifiers from 24-4A — West Orange-Stark, Little Cypress-Mauriceville and co-champion Silsbee — have moved on to the area round.

The Cards advanced to the area round of the 4A Region III playoffs with a two-game series victory over Liberty, 7-4 and 9-1. BC will take on 21-4A champion Bellville at Goose Creek Memorial High in Baytown on Friday and Saturday.

“Oh, it’s very exciting and especially for our class,” said McDowell, who helped Bridge City reach the regional quarterfinals last year, of advancing. “Coming into high school, we didn’t look too hot, but to develop so much to our senior year and be able to go to the second round, it’s a great feeling.”

McDowell (7-2, 1.46 ERA) is one of three BC pitchers going to play collegiately next season, and he’ll get to remain a Cardinal as part of Will Davis’ first team at Lamar. Kyle Bergeron (4-2, 2.26) has punched his ticket to Incarnate Word — and will still be a Cardinal, too — and Tanner Doiron (5-1, 2.71) is going to Alvin Community College.

“We have been consistent all year long,” Landry said. “We really know who we are and we’re going to get solid pitching. We’re going to swing the bats well. It’s just a matter of: Can we score when we need to score?”

Landry said his Cardinals started to play small ball against Liberty, and it led to bigger-scoring innings. Such a performance, he said, was a microcosm to the overall success BC has enjoyed.

“When we put some pressure on our other team defensively, we tend to have better innings, better results,” he said.

Offensively, BC hits .302 as a team with seven guys hitting better than .300 (minimum eight at-bats), led by Chaston Miller’s .500 (4 of 8) and Schuyler Thibodeaux’s .397 (25 of 63). Doiron and Bergeron each are batting .347, with McDowell going .341, Caleb Dubois’ .319 and Gordon .314. The Cards have never lost a game by more than three runs, and four times they were defeated by one run.

“We’ve left a lot of runners on base this year,” Landry said. “We’ve been focusing the last two or three weeks on ways we can create scoring opportunities.”

Thanks in large part to small ball and a tough schedule, the Cards have.

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I.C. Murrell: 721-2435. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews