Prep baseball: Austin-area teams secure district titles, playoff spots on final day of season
It’s on to the playoffs for Austin-area high school baseball teams.
Lake Travis secured the District 26-6A championship, Liberty Hill and Cedar Park shared the District 25-5A title and Bowie, Westwood, East View and Hays all clinched playoff spots on the final weekend of the regular season, while others jockeyed for postseason seeding.
Here’s the weekend baseball report:
Lake Travis 9, Johnson 1 (Saturday): Gavyn Schlotterback, Luke Rieder and Maddox Medrano all blasted home runs as the Cavs secured the District 26-6A title with the win. Wyatt Gatlin and Reid Kilgo both had two hits and Gavin McCullough fanned seven in 3 1/3 innings in other notable performances for Lake Travis.
Lake Travis 4, Bowie 2: Cooper Webb struck out 10 in 5 2/3 innings, David Womack tossed 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief, Luke Rieder went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs and Jager Rahn had two hits and drove in a run to lead the Cavs.
Dripping Springs 6, Anderson 3: Conner Helms went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, Jaxon Conover blasted a solo home run and Taylor Tracey finished 3-for-4 with a double as the Tigers secured the No. 2 seed in District 26-6A. Cooper Rummel struck out five and allowed no earned runs in four innings to earn the win.
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Bowie 4, Del Valle 0 (Saturday): The Bulldogs wrapped up the No. 4 playoff spot out of District 26-6A with the win as Cole Miller struck out 10 and only allowed one hit in six innings. Josh Gonzales’ RBI hit and Miles Strickland’s two hits led the Bowie offense, with Darius Williams and Gabe Winters also driving in runs.
Anderson 9, Austin High 1 (Saturday): Andrew Mason had two doubles and drove in two runs and Ed Small ended the game 2-for-3 with a double and RBI to lead the Trojans to their 20th win of the season. Connor Comeau and Bo Munin both had two hits, with the former driving in a run. Trevin Winebright finished 1-for-2 with two walks and an RBI. Ben Waisman only allowed one hit in four shutout innings. Anderson returns the bulk of its squad for next season when it drops to Class 5A.
Westlake 7, Johnson 6 (11): Austin Knox’s walkoff RBI single gave the Chaps the win in the 11th to end a marathon game. Ethan Armbruster went 2-for-5 with two RBIs and struck out eight in five innings of scoreless relief and Sage Sanders, Evan Lung and Hudson Byrd all drove in runs for Westlake.
Westwood 6, Vandegrift 4: In a play-in game for the final spot out of District 25-6A, Ridge Morgan tossed a complete game with six strikeouts and went 1-for-2 with a walk and RBI and the Warriors rallied with four runs in the bottom of the sixth to qualify for the postseason. Mike Davis went 2-for-3 with a walk and RBI and Antonio Martinez, Owen Norrell and Lane Wood all drove in runs in other offense for Westwood, who will play Lake Travis in the playoffs.
Cedar Park 6, Rouse 3: Kade Davis went 3-for-3 with an RBI and struck out eight in 6 2/3 innings and both Drew Robertson and Parker Greene drove in two runs to lead the Timberwolves, who claimed a share of the District 25-5A title.
Libery Hill 13, Glenn 1: Giancarlo Giletei went 2-for-4 with two triples and four RBIs and Cole Tanksley struck out five in 5 1/3 innings on the mound as the Panthers wrapped up a share of the District 25-5A title. Jordan Andrews finished 2-for-3 with two doubles and an RBI and Toby Rimann had three hits in other notable offense for Liberty Hill.
Liberty Hill 3, Cedar Park 1: In a seeding game Monday night, Caleb Calvert and Giancarlo Giletei had RBI walks, Andrew Basey produced a run-scoring single and four Panthers combined on the mound to give Liberty Hill the top seed out of District 25-5A. Pearson Lowery, Jaxson Richter, Jagger Ray and Jordan Andrews teamed up to scatter five hits, with Andrews throwing the final 1 1/3 innings for the save. Carson Sharp finished 2-for-3 with a triple and double for the Panthers.
Hays 8, Lehman 4: Holden Catron blasted a two-run homer, doubled and drove in four runs, Adriano Fernandez went 2-for-4 with a triple, double and two RBIs and Joaquin Berumen had three hits and drove in a run as the Hawks clinched the final playoff spot out of District 25-5A. Tyler McInvale had five strikeouts in four innings and Fernandez tossed 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief on the mound for Hays.
Leander 7, Lockhart 0: Logan Mitchell struck out 11 in five innings, Coby Holmes hit a two-run homer, Damien Stout smacked two doubles and drove in a run and Hayden Capers went 2-for-4 with two RBIs to lead Leander to its 17th win of the season.
East View 5, Connally 2: The Patriots clinched the final playoff spot out of District 23-5A with the win behind Asher Kirchoff’s strong pitching performance of six strikeouts in five innings. David Brown had two hits and Logan Niederhauser smacked an RBI single to pace the East View offense. Malacki Tristan threw two innings of scoreless relief.
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Elgin 3, Hendrickson 1: In a showdown for the No. 2 seed out of District 23-5A, Nathen Lewis went 3-for-3 with a double and two RBIs and struck out the final two Hawks batters and Jalen Owens fanned seven in 6 1/3 innings to pace the Wildcats. Austin Miller finished 2-for-3 with a triple and double and both Cason Nalle and Tyson McFarlin smacked doubles in other offense for Elgin.
Georgetown 8, Bastrop 1: The Eagles completed their second straight undefeated run through District 23-5A with the win as Devin Peterson fanned six in 4 2/3 innings and went 2-for-3 with a double, two walks and two RBIs, Luke Holley tossed 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief and Andrew Nations, Hayden Grooms and Jackson Rainey all had two hits.
Pflugerville 8, Cedar Creek 7: The Panthers rallied with four runs in the bottom of the seventh to close out the regular season with a series sweep. Ayden Bradley finished 3-for-5 with three RBIs, including the walkoff run-scoring single, and Jose Correia, Cole Taylor and Colton Brown all finished with two hits. Jadon Oswald struck out six and only allowed one earned run in 5 1/3 innings on the mound for Pflugerville, which ended the year on a three-game winning streak.
McCallum 10, Eastside 0: John Dietz and Lupe Ruedas combined for a no-hitter, Nico Sanchez belted a solo home run, Sam Stevens went 3-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI and Tommy McIntyre finished 2-for-3 with three RBIs as the Knights — who wrapped up the District 24-5A title two weeks ago — closed out the regular season with their 20th win.
Crockett 12, LBJ 2: Jacob Mendieta fanned 11 in four shutout innings and ripped a two-run double, Hunter Dement hit two triples and drove in a run, Ethan McLaughlin had an RBI triple and Byron Porter smacked a two-run double to lead the Cougars to the No. 2 seed out of District 24-5A. Jason Sanchez recorded five strikeouts in two innings on the mound.
LASA 15, Travis 1: Jonah Cihock went 2-for-4 with three RBIs, Zac Kahn had a two-run triple and struck out nine in four innings and Evren Aslan and Porter Gregg each had two hits for the Raptors, who are the No. 3 seed out of District 24-5A.
Playoff matchups
Class 6A
Lake Travis vs. Westwood
Game 1: 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Westwood
Game 2: 7:30 p.m. Friday at Lake Travis
Game 3 TBD
Dripping Springs vs. Cedar Ridge
Game 1: 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Cedar Ridge
Game 2: 7:30 p.m. Friday at Dripping Springs
Game 3: TBD
Vista Ridge vs. Bowie
Game 1: 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Burger Field
Game 2: 7:30 p.m. Friday at Vista Ridge
Game 3: 1 p.m. Saturday at Burger (if necessary)
Round Rock vs. Johnson
Game 1: 7 p.m. Thursday at Round Rock
Game 2: 7 p.m. Friday at Johnson
Game 3: 2 p.m. Saturday TBD
Class 5A
Georgetown vs. Navarro
Game 1: 7 p.m. Thursday at Nelson Field
Game 2: 7 p.m. Friday at Georgetown
Game 3: Noon Saturday at Georgetown (if necessary)
Elgin vs. LASA
Game 1: 6 p.m. Wednesday at Nelson Field
Game 2: 7 p.m. Thursday at Elgin
Game 3: 7 p.m. Friday at Elgin (if necessary)
McCallum vs. East View
Game 1: 6 p.m. Thursday at Manor
Game 2: 6 p.m. Friday at Manor
Game 3: Noon Saturday at Manor (if necessary)
Rouse vs. Smithson Valley
Game 1: 7 p.m. Thursday at Smithson Valley
Game 2: 7 p.m. Friday at Rouse
Game 3: Saturday TBD
Crockett vs. Hendrickson
Game 1: 5 p.m. Thursday at Burger Field
Game 2: 6 p.m. Friday at Hendrickson
Game 3: Friday at Hendrickson (30 minutes after Game 2 if necessary)
Hays vs. Boerne Champion
Game 1: 7 p.m. Thursday at Boerne Champion
Game 2: 7 p.m. Friday at Hays
Game 3: 2 p.m. Saturday at Boerne Champion
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Prep baseball: Austin-area teams secure playoff spots on final weekend
