Hawk’s Varsity Baseball has Two Dominated Unofficial Wins over Cuero/Hondo
Sophomore Griffen Williams looking for a strike as he looks to help CL on the mound and batting.
Canyon Lake Baseball has finished their first two scrimmages and if scoring runs is a good indicator on how good a team might be then the Hawks might have a chance to finish 4th in District 28-4A.
One of the major sites for keeping up with Texas High School Baseball has a sponsor called Flat Bill and they have compiled all the districts and put Canyon Lake as their pick for 4th place in their district.
CL was absent on their pick of the top 10 teams in Region IV but Boerne and Hondo got recognized in that part of the write-up.
District 28-4A Flat Bill’s Pick 1) Boerne 2) Wimberley 3) Fredericksburg 4) Canyon Lake
Davenport and Bandera are the other two schools that will be fighting for this year’s district title.
This article had Calallen picked as the No. 1 team and then Sinton as No. 2.
Sinton is on the Hawk’s schedule this season and of note, Robstown is picked 3rd and that is a team CL beat last season as well as Hondo.
Top 10 Region IV Teams and their last year’s record and how many returning players.
1) Corpus Christi Calallen 15-0-1 has 7 returning starters.
2) Sinton 10-3-2 with 9 returning starters.
3) Robstown 7-5-0 with 8 starters returning.
4) Uvalde 9-4-0 with 4 starters.
5) CC Tuloso-Midway 11-4-1 returning 6 starters.
6) Navarro 8-5-0 with 8 starters.
7) Boerne 6-6-0 has 9 starters returning.
8) La Vernia 7-6-0 with 6 starters.
9) Hondo 8-8-0 has 8 starters.
10) Rockport-Fulton 6-6-0 will have 7 starters.
Compare this with Canyon Lake’s 13-2 record and 7 returning starters will give you an idea of how far this year’s team is still flying under the radar.
Says Go Hawks!!
Yes, The Lake has not had many statement years or games and name recognition has to be a major factor in how this plays out each year with predictions.
In last Monday’s scrimmage against those 9th ranked Hondo Owls mentioned above, the unofficial score was an impressive, 15-7 win for the Hawks. Last year’s contest had your Hawks on top, 8-3 played in a tournament game near the end of a shortened season.
The Robstown win was the last game played last year and there was little doubt for The Lake’s win with a, 10-1 drubbing of that 3rd ranked school in those above prognostications.
Not taking anything away from those ranked schools but the Hawk’s resume last year was sparkling, but apparently, it is not an eye-brow raiser for this publication or the area in the know coaches/media.
For a little added depth for the Hawks, last year’s Junior Varsity, started district play with double-header wins over Boerne and Fredericksburg….and those four wins were not close.
In CL’s first scrimmage in Cuero, the unofficial score in that battle could be a convincing resume filler with a 19-6 advantage.
Way to Go Hawks!!
The Hawks have an unofficial .410 team batting average which will certainly help if that part of the game can stay consistent.
“We have done well in the 3 phases,” Head Baseball Coach Victor Escamilla said. “We had 12 strikeouts (against Cuero) and during this time of the year throwing strikes is what we want. I usually expect to be behind in this stat but we put a good emphasis on throwing strikes.”
On what the team will be working on as the scrimmage season continues? “Putting hours and emphasis on hitting and pitching,” Coach Escamilla emphasized. “Our fielding will come around and we have circled our calendar for the start of district games and in time we will settle in on our 10 players and that first, second, and third pitcher rotation.”
Coach Escamilla continued, “We want to have a higher percentage of success with our, at bats, and not be overpowered and just be consistent. We will not be equal on opportunities.”
Dominance can be described as having 14 of your 17 Hawks that have an at bat in these last two scrimmages have a .333 average or above. CL has had 16 walks and just 10 strikeouts that equates to a .516 on base percentage.
Griffen Williams rocketed a home-run in the Hondo scrimmage which would be the first home-run during exhibition play in Hawk history….that gives your Hawks a decent, .500 slugging percentage.
Cutting down on errors and more consistent pitching will be a, need to improve, aspect to this time of the year and helping those 3 phases that was talked about from Coach Escamilla to shine and be ready for district play.
This Saturday’s scrimmages in Lampasas has been cancelled with an arctic blast coming to the hill-country after local teams asked the weather-people that they needed help to cool down CL’s bats. Time will tell if that strategy will work.
Go Hawks!!
