Dripping Springs Tigers slumping on the diamond

After getting off to a 3-1 start in district play, the Dripping Springs High School baseball team has dropped three of their four recent games and will be playing the top two seeds in the next two weeks.

The Dripping Springs Tigers lost a couple of heartbreakers to Johnson High School, the last being an 8-7 game with the final run coming in the bottom of the seventh. A game against Austin’s Akins High School saw the opponent scoring five runs in the first inning to go on to a 6-2 win. The following game against Akins ended in a strong, revenge win for the Tigers.

The Tigers outhit Johnson 12-10, but it was the lack of a third out that did them in. They scored one in the first, two more in the second before Johnson got on board in the second. It was the fourth inning where, with two outs, Johnson used a walk, HBP, 1B, HBP, W, and 3B to score six runs. DSHS got one back in the fifth and three in the sixth to tie it at 7-7. With one out in the bottom of the seventh, two walks and two singles pushed across the winning run. Leading the hit attack were Jack Tyndall 3, Taylor Tracey, Mason Ashlock and Theo Howard with two. Jaxon Conover went 3.2 innings, giving up 5H and 6R. Travis Mora took over for 1.1, giving up 3H, 1R. Josh Edward pitched the final 1.1, giving up 2H and 1R.

At Akins, the Tigers loaded the bases in the first inning with no outs and could not score — not the case for Akins. They started with a ground out, then turned a 1B, HBP, W, 1B, HBP and 2B for five runs. A bases-loaded walk got a run in the fourth inning for the Tigers. Akins matched that in the bottom half. Cooper would get a triple and score on an error in the sixth for the Tigers final run. Tyndall led the 7-hit attack with another pair. Ryland Mahoney had a rough outing, lasting only one out while giving up the five runs. Travis Mora was called on to go the rest of the way. He pitched 5.2 innings, giving up 4H, 1R, 2W, 7K.

The second Akins game was no match in the five-inning game. A 13-run third was the big inning with Mason Ashlock getting a grandslam homerun. The Tigers outhit Akins 18-5. Taylor Tracey pitched three innings for the win.

Dripping Springs will need to save some of those runs for the next two series against Westlake and Lake Travis High Schools.