Tigers baseball team roars

Riding the arm of Cameron O'Banan, the Dripping Springs Tigers earned a couple of district wins over Hays Johnson and NB Canyon to take an early 2-0 lead in district play. O'Banan would toss two, two-hit, complete games to stymie the opposition. Johnson would fall 3-0 and Canyon 3-2.

At Johnson, O'Banan mowed down 16 batters by way of strikeouts and had the game under control. Reece Dunn would bring in two runs in the second with the first of his two doubles. Wyatt Leschber hit a sac fly to bring in Luke Hudson for the final run in the seventh.

It was a big game against Canyon. They have long had a strong baseball program and expect to be in the mix. O'Banan would walk the leadoff and after striking out the next batter allowed two infield-type hits that scored a run and left runners at the corners. With two outs Canyon executed a play with the runners that resulted in the second run. That would be it for the night for NBC. In the fourth the Tigers would finally get to the Cougar starter with four hits by Brennan Frickel, Blake Bryant, Max Miles and Tyler Puls. Frickel and Bryant would score but Miles would be cut down at the plate by a perfect throw. Both pitchers held their own and in the bottom of the seventh, the Tigers came to bat looking like it could be extra innings and O'Banan out of pitches. Brandon Arvidson led off with a single. Ryan Kimball laid down a sac bunt in front of the plate. The catcher threw the ball into the right field corner and Arvidson rounded the bases for the important win. However, not sure the dog pile (usually reserved for titles) in the infield was appropriate with 14 games remaining.

The previous weekend the Tigers had entered the Comal Invitational tourney. They would split the difference in their five games. SA Brennan would cross the plate three times in the bottom of the seventh to edge the Tigers 3-2. The Tigers would battle to a 3-3 tie with SA Johnson by scoring a pair in the bottom of the seventh. DS would take wins (11-5) over SA O'Connor and SA Roosevelt (12-0) while dropping an 11-1 verdict to SA Churchill.

Dripping Springs hosted their second tourney this past weekend and those results will be in the next issue.

Vs HJ: Hits: Dunn 2, Mitchell Bockelman, Frickel, Arvidson. Pitch: O'Banan 7IP, 2H, 0R, 3W, 16K.

Vs NBC: Hits: Frickel 2B, Bryant, Miles, Puls, Arvidson, O'Banan 3B. Pitch: O'Banan 7IP, 2H, 2R, 2ER, 4W, 4K.

Vs Brennan: Hits: Bryant 2 (2B), Dunn HR, Nico Ruedas, Arvidson. Pitch: Ruedas 5IP, 4H, 2R, 4K; Frickel 1.1IP, 1H, 1R, 4K.

Vs Johnson: Hits: Bryant (HR), Miles, Bockelman, Frickel 2B, Arvidson 2B. Pitch: Arvidson 7IP, 2H, 3R, 2ER, 4W, 7K.

Vs O'Connor, Churchill and Roosevelt: No stats available.