UIL baseball playoffs: Austin-area teams take key wins in bidistrict playoff series openers

Bowie, Dripping Springs, East View, Georgetown, Hendrickson, Round Rock, Rouse and Westwood all took key Game 1 wins on Thursday as the UIL high school baseball playoffs began for most Austin-area teams in their best-of-three bi-district series.

Friday sees most of the above teams go for the series sweep in Game 2, while in Class 6A Weiss starts its series vs. Mansfield Lake Ridge and the Class 5A series of Liberty Hill vs. Kerrville Tivy, Cedar Park vs. San Antonio Pieper and LASA vs. Elgin begin.

Here’s a look at the 6A and 5A action from Thursday:

Class 6A

Westwood 5, Lake Travis 1: In the surprise of the night, the Warriors -- who on Monday rallied late in a play-in game vs. Vandegrift just to qualify for the playoffs as the No. 4 seed out of District 25 -- received a strong start from Owen Norrell, two shutout innings of relief from Jacob Wright and timely hitting to take the series opener at Lake Travis High School.

Norrell struck out seven and only allowed one hit in five innings, while Lane Wood’s two-run single in the third staked Westwood to an early lead.

Jackson Gula’s RBI single and Ridge Morgan’s two-run hit in the fifth put the Warriors ahead 5-0. Jake Jones, John Ramsey and Grant Boren also had hits for Westwood.

Game 2 is Friday night at Westwood.

More: High school baseball playoff preview: Austin-area teams, pitchers and field players to watch

Bowie 1, Vista Ridge 0 (8): Jaden Corzine’s walkoff hit-by-pitch gave the Bulldogs the extra-innings win in the series opener of an impressive pitcher’s duel at Lehman High School.

Ryder Melsa struck out nine and only allowed one hit in 7 2/3 innings for Bowie, with Andre Wood also fanning nine in seven shutout innings to lead the Rangers.

Luke Knittel started the bottom of the eighth with a single for the Bulldogs, then a walk and intentional walk loaded the bases.

Corzine was plunked on the second pitch he saw to push Bowie, which is the No. 4 seed out of District 26, to the brink of the second round.

Dripping Springs 3, Cedar Ridge 0: Taylor Tracey, Blake Cox and Jaxon Conover combined for a one-hit shutout and the Tigers put across three runs in the third to take the series opener at Dripping Springs High School.

Gavin Hoel’s RBI double highlighted the Tigers’ third, with courtesy runner Nick Tyndall scoring on a passed ball and a Raiders’ error leading to the third run.

Tracey and Cox both threw three innings, with Conover retiring the side in the seventh.

Tristan Ciechanowicz, Dom Hurley, Theo Howard and Conover all had hits for Dripping Springs.

Round Rock 9, Johnson 2: The Dragons opened the postseason in impressive fashion as Sam DeLong struck out seven in five innings, Isaac Rodriguez tossed two perfect innings in relief and Dylan Goddard had four hits to lead the way in the series opener at Johnson High School.

Chris Alsobrooks smacked an RBI single in the first and Jacob Gayman hit a sacrifice fly to score Goddard in the second to give Round Rock an early lead.

The Jaguars tied the game on Ethan McLain’s two-run homer in the bottom of the second, but that would represent their only hit of the game.

Two singles, an error, a wild pitch and Jake Staretz’s sacrifice fly put across two Dragons runs in the fourth, with Connor Digesualdo’s two-run single highlighting a three-run sixth. Hudson Ellis’ RBI hit gave Round Rock its final run in the seventh.

Game 2 is Friday night at Round Rock.

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Class 5A

Rouse 6, Smithson Valley 2: Rayner Heinrich and Andrew Sanchez homered, Oscar Salazar and Xander Forsell each hit two doubles and Gavin Silva struck out eight in 5 2/3 innings to lead the Raiders in the series opener at Smithson Valley High School.

Sanchez’s two-run blast in the sixth gave Rouse a 4-1 lead, with Heinrich clearing the fence in left field in the seventh with a two-run shot of his own.

Nathan Miller pitched a perfect seventh to close it out for the Raiders, who host Game 2 Friday night.

East View 5, McCallum 1: Asher Kirchoff struck out 10 in six shutout innings, Ronnie Golmon went 2-for-3 with a triple, double and RBI and Patrick Reyes belted a run-scoring double to lead the Patriots in the series opener at Manor New Tech.

Golmon’s RBI triple in the second gave East View a lead it would never relinquish, with Reyes’ RBI double giving Kirchoff an insurance run in the fifth. A single, walk and three errors led to the Patriots’ three runs in the seventh.

David Brown had two hits for East View.

Game 2 is Friday night at Manor New Tech.

Hendrickson 16, Crockett 3: Gavin Fierro and Cole McCracken both went 2-for-5 with a double, three RBIs and two runs scored, Connor Padilla finished 2-for-3 with a double, walk and two runs driven in and Traden Hendrix had three hits to lead the Hawks to an easy win in the series opener at Lehman High School.

Georgetown 29, Navarro 1: The Eagles cruised in the series opener at Liberty Hill High School. Luke Holley hit two doubles and drove in five runs and Talan Ball and Jackson Rainey both had three RBIs to lead Georgetown.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: UIL baseball playoffs: Austin-area teams take key Game 1 wins