San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
State championship again eludes Rattlers
ROUND ROCK — They had hoped to make history.
But a cavalcade of misfortune stunned Reagan in its quest to capture San Antonio’s first UIL state baseball championship since 1981.
That led to Southlake Carroll’s 7-2 victory over Reagan in the UIL Class 6A state championship Saturday at Dell Diamond.
The Rattlers (37-8) commit- ted four errors and never mounted a threat after falling behind 4-0 through two innings.
“Against those guys, you really can’t do that, but I thought we kept fighting the whole way,” Reagan coach Chans Chapman said.
Saturday’s game echoed the outcome of last year’s 6A state championship when Reagan trailed 6-0 en route to a 7-2 defeat to Deer Park.
With seven returning start-
ers from last year’s team that played against Deer Park, the Rattlers hoped to seal the deal by bringing the state championship home.
“Whenever you are second in state, that’s an amazing accomplishment,” said Reagan senior Josh Killeen, who played second base and catcher on Saturday. “But, it’s still going to wear on our hearts that we didn’t finish it both years.”
The Dragons claimed their third state championship and their first since 2002 when the captured the 4A crown.
Things got sticky early for the Rattlers, who sent sophomore Travis Sthele to the mound to start. Sthele, the Rattlers’ regular shortstop, has been used as a closer for most of the season. Josh Buske, the Rattlers’ regular No. 2 starter, finished the game, going 3 1⁄
3 innings giving up two hits and one run (unearned) with four strikeouts.
Sthele went two innings, giving up three hits and four runs (two earned).
“We thought that was the best matchup,” Chapman said of starting Sthele. “It was one of those things you go with and it didn’t quite work out. We had a couple of mistakes and that’s part of it.”
Each team had seven hits, but the Dragons didn’t commit an error.
Southlake Carroll (35-6) put on the pressure early. Will Quillen tripled in Adam Stephenson and Cole Johnson, who reached on a walk and hit-by-pitch, for two runs in the first.
The Dragons added to the lead when Cade Bell doubled in courtesy runner Jaxon Osterberg in the second. Osterberg was running in place of catcher Matt Werner, who reached on an error. Bell scored on a fielder’s choice by Cole Johnson to put Carroll in the lead 4-0. The Rattlers had two errors in the frame.
“Southlake Carroll is a good team and trying to come back is just a really hard thing to do,” Killeen said. “We just couldn’t find the momentum. They were playing some good ball.”
Reagan loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the second, but Zane Raba flied out to left to end the inning.
In the third, Seth Morrow (walk) and Porter Brown (single) reached to open the third. However, Morrow was doubled on second after shortstop Jorge Figueroa snagged a hard-hit liner by Hilton Brown.
“You have to put people on base and get hits,” Porter Brown said. We had seven hits, but we didn’t get the seven hits at the right time.”
The Dragons tacked on two runs in the fourth on a sacrifice fly to right by Johnson and a bases-loaded walk by Figueroa. Carroll made it 7-0 in the fifth when Werner scored from first after Reagan right fielder Ben Sanchez appeared to lose a fly in the sun.
Reagan avoided the shutout in the seventh when Porter Brown’s single scored Dalton Brieger and Hilton Brown’s sacrifice fly to center brought Seth Morrow home.
The Rattlers were making its third state championship appearance in five years. Reagan lost to Flower Mound in five innings, 10-0, in the 2014 statetitle game.
A San Antonio team hasn’t won a UIL state championship since South San West Campus in 1981. New Braunfels was the last area team to win one — the 4A trophy in 2006. Only one San Antonio team has won a state championship in UIL’s highest classification — Highlands in 1968.