WACO – Taylor High School varsity baseball had its incredible 2023 season come to a close this week as the Ducks were beaten by China Spring High School in a best-of-three series in the 4A Region 3 Finals at Baylor Ballpark with the Cougars advancing to the state tournament.
GAME 1: TAYLOR 3, CHINA SPRING 0 If there was one game to show exactly how valuable Ducks junior pitcher Chris Perez was to this Taylor team all season, this was certainly the prime example as he did it all to guide the Ducks to a 3-0 shoutout win in Game 1 over China Spring on Wednesday night.
In the first two innings of the game, the Taylor defense helped Perez out on the mound as the Cougars hit into two separate double plays to give the Ducks momentum. That certainly carried into the bottom of the second inning as junior first baseman Braylan Alderete drew a two-out walk to bring senior outfielder Jake Jansky to the plate.
Jansky promptly ripped an RBI double over the China Spring left fielder’s glove to get Taylor on the board at 1-0.
The Ducks were hungry for more on offense in the bottom of the fourth inning. Following a leadoff double off the left-field wall from senior designated hitter Cohen Tyree, it was Perez who came up with nobody out. Perez sent the Taylor faithful at Baylor Ballpark into a frenzy when he smacked a two-run home run over the right-field wall and was mobbed by his teammates after crossing home plate to make this a 3-0 game.
After Perez provided his own offense in a huge contest for the Ducks, the junior pitcher continued to cruise along on the mound for the remainder of the game before being taken out in the top of the seventh inning. Perez was spectacular for Taylor in 6.1 innings pitched as he had a whopping 11 strikeouts against an elite China Spring offense, only three walks issued, and zero runs allowed on the evening. Tyree came in to pitch in relief and recorded the final two outs of the inning to put Game 1 away 3-0 for the Ducks.
GAME 2: TAYLOR 1, CHINA SPRING 12 This was a very tough game for the Ducks as their 13-game winning streak, which went all the way back to March 10, came to a halt as China Spring’s offense came to life with a resounding 12-1 victory in Game 2 to tie the series 1-1.
Taylor junior starting pitcher Devin Valdez, who was outstanding the previous week in a 2-0 shutout victory in Game 2 of the regional semifinals against Spring Hill High School, had a rough start to this game as the heart of the Cougars’ batting order was hard to stop.
China Spring came out on fire in the first inning with three hits that resulted in a 2-0 lead.
Although Valdez was able to get two quick outs in the second inning, the Cougars produced a crucial two-out rally that plated two more runs for a 4-0 advantage after two frames.
Despite the rough start, Valdez started to find his groove over the next few innings to keep Taylor within striking distance. Unfortunately, the Ducks’ offense was completely held in check for the game by China Spring starter Jayden Honey, the team’s ace pitcher.
In the top of the sixth inning with Taylor still in striking distance down 4-0, the Cougars came out on offense and put this game out of reach with four more runs to go up 8-0. Taylor got its first and only run of the game in the bottom of the sixth inning to avoid the shutout on a sacrifice fly by Alderete that scored sophomore pinch runner Xavier Juarez. Junior shortstop Dominick Hartman, who was one of only a few bright spots on offense for the Ducks in Game 2, had one double and two singles on the afternoon.
Senior outfielders Conner Barcuch and Jacob Turner provided Taylor’s only other two hits in the game.
GAME 3: TAYLOR 6, CHINA SPRING 14 It was a heartbreaking way to end such a superb season for the Ducks, but Game 3 simply got away from them late as Taylor fell 14-6 to China Spring in a winner-take-all contest.
Taylor got off to a fantastic start offensively over the first couple of innings. Tyree, who was the starting pitcher for Game 3, got the Ducks on the board in the first frame with an RBI groundout to score Hartman and make it 1-0. In the top of the second, sophomore second baseman Mario Aguero knocked a single up the middle that scored Alderete and Barcuch followed up with a bloop RBI single down the right-field line as Taylor was up 3-0.
However, this lead did not last long as the Cougars scored three and two runs in the second and third innings respectively to give this explosive China Spring team its first lead of the night 5-3.
With the sun finally set and the lights bright at Baylor Ballpark, Taylor needed a spark to get back in the game. They got just that with two outs from Barcuch, who was batting with two runners on base. Barcuch hit a ball sharply to right field for what appeared to be the third out, but the China Spring right fielder appeared to lose track of the ball in the lights and the ball got past him and rolled all the way to the wall. Two runs came in to score and Barcuch hustled all the way to third base on the error as Taylor came up with a huge play to tie this game 5-5.
Unfortunately, this back-and-forth affair came to a screeching halt as China Spring regained the lead in the bottom of the fourth and added another run in the fifth for a 7-5 lead.
After Tyree was taken out of the game with a 7-5 deficit in the bottom of the sixth inning, the wheels completely fell off the wagon for Taylor relief pitching as the Ducks walked numerous players in a row and gave up some timely hits as China Spring put this game completely out of reach up 14-5. Taylor got its final run of the season on a sacrifice fly from Tyree in the top of the seventh inning but the Ducks fell 14-6.
After the game, head coach Justin Adams expressed how proud he was of his group of players that accomplished so much during their run to a school-record 31-5-1 overall record in 2023.
He also made sure to thank his seven senior players who played their last game in a Taylor Ducks uniform as Cohen Tyree, Jake Jansky, Conner Barcuch, Jacob Turner, Conner Cobb, Niklas Hundley, and Mason Hortenstine have all graduated. Adams also stated that he was very excited to get such a large group of his players back for next season in 2024.
Be sure to check out next week’s sports section of the Taylor Press for the 4A All-District 22 awards that will be aplenty for Ducks baseball players.
