With the start of the 2018 baseball playoff season looming, the Dripping Springs Tigers are looking to make some noise.
The Tigers finished the regular season with a 22-8-1 overall record and dominated in district play by going 11-3, which put them in a tie for second place with Boerne Champion. Not only did they have an impressive record, they finished the regular season on a high note, winning their last eight games.
Dripping Springs features a powerful offensive attack as they hit .304 as a team throughout the regular season. The Tigers had five regular starters finish with a batting average over .300.
Senior Reed Beverley led the way with 21 RBIs, while fellow senior Pete D’Alessandro finished with a .348 batting average and slugged 4 doubles. Both players finished with two home runs, the only Tigers to hit more than one on the season. Senior Brittain Howeth finished with 7 doubles, which led the team. As a team, the Tigers outscored their opponents 138-77.
On the mound, Dripping Springs had a team earned run average (ERA) of 2.70. Senior Grant Gaspard led the team in innings pitched (43), and strikeouts (46). Seniors Johnny Hoyle and Reed Beverley, and juniors Nathan Koch and Nick Gullo all saw significant time on the mound, with Hoyle being the Tigers number two starter. As a team, they struck out 180 batters, and walked only 68.
The Tigers will take on the LBJ Jaguars in a best of three series starting Thursday, May 3rd to kick off the playoffs. The first game will be in Dripping Springs, before the series moves to Austin for Game 2. If a game 3 were necessary, it would be played 30 minutes following the end of game 2.
LBJ finished 11-18 overall, but went 9-3 in district play. They are a third-place finisher from District 25. They hit .256 as a team and had a team ERA of 4.20. They have some solid bats in their lineup though, with senior Harrison Lee, junior Tucker Ebest, and sophomore Walker Kohler all putting together solid 2018 regular season campaigns.
