Photos: San Antonio Reagan beats Lake Travis to advance to Texas 6A Baseball State Tournament

SAN ANTONIO - The stage has been set for the UIL Class 6A baseball state tournament after San Antonio Reagan beat Lake Travis 6-2 to win the three-game series at the Northeast Baseball Complex Saturday night.

“They deserve it and have battled through three tough games against Lake Travis who has an incredible club,” San Antonio Reagan coach Chans Chapman said. “We have asked a lot of them, and they have risen to every challenge that we asked. I could not be more proud of them.”

The Rattlers are the Region IV-6A champions and are headed to their fourth state tournament berth under Chapman who preaches the importance of playing late in the season as a standard for the program. The state tournament is set to take place next weekend at Round Rock’s Dell Diamond.

“That is what we talk about, when they get on campus as a freshman, that is the first thing we talk about,” Chapman said. “Our goal is to get to Round Rock and they did it. This never gets old, and it is going to be our fourth time to go and it just never gets old. This is why we practice; this is why we do it.”

The Rattlers opened the series Thursday night with a 3-2 victory, but the Cavaliers took Game 2 at Concordia University. With their backs against the wall, Lake Travis pulled out a 7-2 victory on Friday to force Game 3 as the series swung back to San Antonio.

San Antonio Reagan dominated every facet of the game and set the tone early with some aggressive base running. The Rattlers put their first runs on the scoreboard in the second inning as Ashton Beaird collected an RBI single to bring Luke Sasser across home plate.

Sasser, who made an incredible play in centerfield in the second inning, was issued a walk before being moved over to second on a sacrifice bunt by Jacob King. He made his way third base on a wild pitch before Beaird’s RBI to give the Rattlers a 1-0 lead.

Lake Travis could not get anything going at the plate thanks to starting pitcher Britton Moore who was hitting the corners of the strike zone. Through five innings the Cavaliers collected two hits and left five on base.

The Rattlers had a steady force on the mound while Lake Travis went through five pitchers during the game. San Antonio Reagan started to break away in the fourth inning, adding insurance runs on three hits.

With two outs, Aiden Coleman ripped a single and was followed by an RBI single by Beaird. Leadoff batter Britton Moore followed with an RBI single to bring Coleman’s courtesy runner, Caleb Cappuccio, across home plate and make it a 3-0 game after four innings of play.

San Antonio Reagan had the momentum on their side and continued their dominance at the plate in the fifth inning. Teagan Peeples was hit by a pitch to open the inning and a walk issued to Andrew Ermis put the Rattlers in scoring position. A sacrifice fly by Sasser brought a run home.

King came up big again for the Rattlers, just like he has all season long and, in the post-season, has taken it up a notch. The St. Mary’s University commit blasted an RBI single to make it a 5-0 game. He went on to score as the Rattlers took a 6-0 lead heading into the sixth inning.

The Cavaliers scored two runs in the sixth inning but San Antonio Reagan was able to hold them off to claim the Region IV-6A title and head to the state tournament. 

PHOTO GALLERY