The Cavalier baseball team was red hot at the end of the regular season, undefeated in district play and hadn’t lost a game since March 28.

Then the season was suspended because of the Swine Flu outbreak, and there had to be a few people wondering if it would cool Lake Travis (29-3) off at the wrong time.

But after two rounds of playoff baseball, the Cavaliers have scored 34 runs, their opponents have scored three and ace Dylan Mendoza has allowed exactly one hit.

It’s safe to say the break didn’t faze them.

Lake Travis topped Lanier, 7-0 and 12-3, in the bi-district championship last weekend, and then toppled New Braunfels Canyon Tuesday night in a one-game series for the area championship, 5-0.

Even when facing that one-game series against the Cougars, the Cavaliers weren’t nervous.

“I was pretty relaxed. I mean, I’ve been here before because of the experience and tradition we have,” Mendoza said. “So I was pretty relaxed coming in.”

Mendoza went the distance, fanning 14 Cougars and allowing one hit in a game that never felt like it was in doubt once Lake Travis was on the board.

Even Lake Travis head coach Roy Kinnan, who notoriously hates one-game playoff rounds, felt like his team was in good shape coming into the game.

“You know, this is a different team, I’ve got a lot of confidence in them, and they’ve got a lot of confidence in themselves,” he said. “I felt good about the game coming out. We were swinging the bat well in batting practice, and I just felt good about it.”

Lake Travis broke a scoreless tie in the third inning, scoring four runs on three hits. Kevin Conroy led off the frame with a double to center field, and Cody Gruber followed with a single to put runners at first and second. Brad Kuntz hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Conroy for the first run. Andy Holt doubled, putting runners at second and third, and Wyatt Church doubled to bring home both runners. Cohl Walla hit a rocket to deep right-center field, but it was snagged by the center fielder. Church moved to third on the fly, and then scored on a wild pitch, making it 4-0.

The Cavaliers tacked on another run in the fifth inning when Church hit a grounder to short that was misplayed and allowed Gruber to score from third.

Meanwhile, Mendoza stayed hot, shutting down the Cougars five days after no-hitting Lanier in the Cavs’ 7-0, playoff-opening victory, one in which he struck out 13 Vikings. The lead was more than enough.

“I felt like even we didn’t score any more runs, we’d be fine because I was on,” Mendoza said. “Everything was working well, my fastball was on, curveball was on, slider, change, really the whole repertoire was working.”

Kinnan agreed, and couldn’t say enough about the senior gunslinger.

“His last three ballgames, I mean, he throws a two-hitter in his last district game, a no-hitter in the first round and a one-hitter tonight. He’s throwing the ball well, and he’s throwing strikes, so his pitch count is down and he’s still throwing hard in the sixth and seventh inning,” Kinnan then chuckled. “He had good stuff tonight.”

But the competition in the first few rounds typically isn’t as tough as the best teams Lake Travis has seen this year, and Canyon offered few surprises, if any.

“They were a solid ballclub, but they don’t hit one through nine,” Kinnan said. “We scouted them a little bit, and their first four hitters do most of their work. That’s where they score their runs, and after that, they struggle.”

The early lead cemented that theory.

“I think it’s important any time you can score a couple runs in a burst like that,” Kinnan said. “We talked all game about trying to score a run an inning, and trying to shut them out.”

Now, the Cavaliers turn right back around and start the regional quarterfinal round against district rival Hutto. The Hippos are no stranger to playoff baseball, and topped Boerne Champion 5-4, Tuesday night. But this is their first venture into the 4A playoffs, which should make for an interesting series.

“We beat them handily the first time, but we had to come from behind the second time, and I’m sure they feel like they can play with us,” Kinnan said. “I don’t care either way, whoever the winner is, that’s who we’ll get ready to play.”

Lake Travis won the teams’ first meeting 8-2, behind the arms of Cohl Walla, Brad Kuntz and Jack Hourin. Mendoza pitched the second meeting, which the Cavaliers came back to win 4-3, after being down 3-0 heading into the seventh inning. Mendoza struck out 11, and allowed three runs, though none of them were earned.

The playoff routine does get changed a bit with two series in one week, though.

“I think it will be good for us because we have lots of pitching, and everyone has been ready to play every day,” Mendoza said. “We’ve been really sharp.”

Kinnan agreed.

“We play it now like a regular season game, and for us, we’re set up pretty good pitching-wise because we’ll have Kuntz and Walla going in the first two games. And we can always go to Mendoza at the end because we won’t have to go again until the next Thursday,” he said. “Then I’ve got Church, Ryan Feltner, Colin Butschek and Hourin that can all go in game three if I need them to.”

The series dates and times had not been decided at press time.