Tiger Baseball Team heads to the playoffs
The Dripping Springs Tigers easily disposed of their final two games with Reagan on one-hitters and 11-0 and 12-0 scores. This clinched second place for the Tigers. They will play Seguin in Bi-district. Last night they played in Seguin. Friday it will be at DS at 7:00 and if a third game is needed it will be Saturday in San Marcos at 11:00. In a final warmup, they dropped a 5-1 decision to state-ranked Georgetown.
Life in sports is always made easier when the opponent makes the mistakes. Reagan was quite generous in that area as they committed three errors, walked six and hit another four batters. The Tigers would score three in the first, seven in the second and one more in the third.
It was basically a replica in the second as six more errors, one more walk and five hit batters contributed heavily. Again it was a 4-5-3 start to stop the game in five.
The Georgetown game was good for both teams and was played with meaning. It gave the pitchers a good warmup prior to the playoffs and hitters a chance to face good pitching. Georgetown kept the pressure on from both sides of the ball until they could find small cracks in the armor. The leadoff batter promptly doubled but died on third as Nick Gullo got the next three batters. In the second an error allowed another runner to reach third but to no avail. Finally in the third, a hit and walk put runners on second and third with a one-out ground ball pushing a run across. DS got back into the game the next inning. Chris Tyree singled and reached third on Nico Ramirez's single and scored on Nathan Koch's sac fly to tie the game.
A walk and single in the fifth allowed a one-out ground out to give Georgetown their one-run lead back. Finally in the seventh, a double and two walks, plus a couple of miscues in execution and a single allowed three runs to score.
Baseball is many times a game of inches or feet. The Tigers were the recipient of it in this game. It seems every time they would get the metal to the horsehide, it would be right at a player or the player would make an excellent play. The real turning point came in the first inning. Ryan Davenport bunted for a single, Garrett Kane reached on an error and Zach Tjelmeland walked to load the bases. With one out, Ramirez stepped to the plate and crushed a ball to left field. Unfortunately, a strong crosswind was blowing and by the time it went over the fence it was in foul territory, negating a grandslam homerun. Those four runs would have changed the complexion of the game.
Vs Reagan1: Hits: Ty Kaatz 2, Ramirez, Davenport, Tyree, Parker Alford, Carter Schmersahl 2B. Pitch: Nathan Koch: 3IP, 0H, 0R, 6K, 2W; Aidan Seligman: 2IP, 1H, 3K.
Vs Reagan2: Hits: Davenport 2, Brennan Frickel (2B,2B), Tjelmeland 2 (2B), Koch 2 (3B), Tyree 3B, Cameron O'Banan, Gullo. Pitch: Kane 3IP, 1H, 0R, 4K, 1W; O'Banan: 2IP, 0H, 2K, 1W.
Vs Georgetown: Hits: Davenport 2, Kane, Tyree, Ramirez, Gullo. Pitch: Gullo: 3IP, 2H, 1R, 1ER, 5K, 2W; Tjelmeland: 3IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 3K, 3W; Koch: 1IP, 2H, 3R, 3ER, 1K, 2W.