Texan baseball tripped up by Hawks

Wimberley High School’s Texan baseball continued their quest for better playoff seeding last week, facing off with Canyon Lake High School on both Tuesday and Friday night.

The Texans (6-5 district record) owned a four-game district win streak headed into Tuesday, April 18 against a surging Hawk program at Texan Field. After Senior Night festivities concluded — celebrating Lane Patek, Cody Overall, Brady Barbee, Jarret Salinas, Wyatt Franchione, Iain Naylor and Ryan Slade — the Texans took the field with Wyatt Martinez on the mound.

After two Hawks successfully got on base, a double to right field brought both in, leaving a runner at second. The next batter coaxed a walk from Martinez, creating potential for a big inning for Canyon Lake. With two on and no outs, one of the most improbable plays in baseball occurred as the Hawks’ batter drove a low line drive into shallow right field toward Ty Thames. Thames rushed in to field the ball, putting his momentum headed toward second base. Catching the liner for the first out, Thames unleashed a rocket to Zach Patek at second, doubling off the runner. Patek turned and threw a strike to first base where Bryson Young touched the bag to complete a triple play. Though the Texans trailed 0-2, they provided a rare defensive play to close the top of the first.

It took exactly two batters to tie the game as lead-off batter Young walked, scoring a few pitches later when Cody Overall caught a pitch with the barrel of the bat and drove it over the left field wall for a two-run home run. Chase Carson next drew a walk standing at first when Lane Patek drilled a ball to right field. Carson was thrown out while trying to advance on the play, leaving Patek at third with one out. Patek was thrown out at home on the next play for the second out and a liner to second base concluded the inning with the score knotted at 2-2.

Canyon Lake scored again in the top of the second after a leadoff double followed a couple of batters later on a passed ball from a wild pitch. The Texans would tie the game again in the bottom of the third when Carson earned a walk then moved to second as Lane Patek was hit by a pitch with two outs. Zach Patek would deliver the RBI single to center, plating Carson before the third out to end the inning.

The Hawks scored in the top of the fourth and again in the sixth to make the Texan deficit two runs. Wimberley managed to get runners on base but were unable to push any more runs across, losing the contest 3-5.

Coach Stephen Wisdom chalked up the loss to a simple issue — more base runners.

“We weren’t disciplined at the plate,” he explained. “Their pitcher wasn’t as good as we made him to be; we didn’t wait on our pitch. We seemed anxious to swing at pitches and didn’t put pressure on him to throw strikes.”

Wisdom continued, complementing his defense.

“That triple play was pretty awesome,” he said. “You don’t get to see those every day. I was hoping we’d take the momentum and run with that.”

“I could have held the runner (in the bottom of the first), and we could have picked up a couple more runs, but I was proud of our kids,” he continued. “They came back and matched the score, so Canyon Lake didn’t get any advantage from their first inning lead.”

The Texans visited Canyon Lake High School on Friday, April 21 to close out the series against the second place Hawks, hoping to steal a game and stay close for third place in district while creating breathing room between themselves and fifth place Fredericksburg High School.

The scenario did not play out as desired.

Offensive struggles continued through the evening as batter box discipline evaporated into big swings with few results. The lone Texan run in the contest came off a Zach Patek home run in the top of fourth to tie the game 1-1.

Texan pitchers — starter Hayden Oakes, Trent Habbit and Ty Thames — threw strikes and trusted the defense to play solid coverage behind them. Oakes’ five innings were solid. Habbit came in to relieve Oakes in the bottom of the sixth with the score 2-1 in favor of the Hawks. A passed ball, an error, a fly to left center for the first out and a second error loaded the bases for Canyon Lake. The next batter walked to increase the lead to 3-1 followed by a single to left, scoring another and leaving the bases loaded. Thames came in to spell Habbit, walking in a run before coaxing the next batter to hit a shot down the third base line. Owen O’Neal made a good play on the ball, throwing home to catcher Kyler Lai for the force out at home. The next batter struck out on three straight Thames’ pitches to close the inning 5-1.

The Texans were able to get two on base in the top of the seventh but ran out of steam before pushing anyone across the plate.

Coach Wisdom commented on the late season predicament his team is facing.

“We’re definitely having issues both at the plate and in the field,” he said. “We’re allowing too many free passes, putting runners on base, and we’re struggling to string hits together. We have to play better to move on.”

The loss takes the Texans to 6-7 in district, one game up on Fredericksburg heading into the last week of the season. The Texans took on the district-leading Bourne Greyhounds on Tuesday, April 25 in Boerne and will host them at Texan Field Friday, April 28 at 6 p.m. With a win in either game, the Texans clinch the fourth place spot in district, setting up a likely first round playoff matchup with the Navarro High School Panthers.

Fredericksburg and Davenport High Schools hook up in a two-game set with the final playoff position at stake. Were the Texans to lose both games to Boerne and Fredericksburg take both games versus the Wolves, the Billies would finish ahead of the Texans for fourth. The Texans hold the tiebreaker, having swept the three game season series against Fredericksburg and would advance if Davenport wins either of the two games with the Billies.