Number Five! Southlake Carroll rallies back to beat Reagan in state baseball title game
June 11, 1982.
Southlake Carroll won its first UIL state baseball championship, a 7-3 win over West Sabine in the Class 2A final.
Forty years later to the day, Carroll captured its fifth crown.
Senior pitcher Owen Proksch (Duke signee) struck out nine and drove in the go-ahead run, and the Dragons rallied back from their largest deficit in over two months to beat San Antonio Reagan, 8-5, in the 6A state championship game on Saturday at Dell Diamond.
Carroll (34-8) defeated Fort Bend Ridge Point 6-1 in Friday’s semifinal round. Senior Griffin Herring (LSU signee) struck out 13 batters.
The Dragons also won in 2002, 2018 and 2019. It’s the program’s third state title in the past four full seasons. It was also Carroll’s 10th trip to the state tournament.
“I remember being here in 2019 as a freshman watching the people come before me,” said Carroll senior catcher Clark Springs, who went 4 for 4 with two RBI. “It’s a whole lot different playing on that field than just sitting there on the bench. The expectation was always to get back here and to win. To do it, it’s just a dream come true.”
Carroll was challenged early after giving up three runs in the top of the second. It was Carroll’s largest deficit since April 9 against Rockwall (16 games). It had only allowed two runs in nine previous playoff games and three runs in the past 13 overall.
After both teams went scoreless in the first inning, the Rattlers (33-7-2) started the second with a walk followed by a Luke Sasser bunt single.
Jacob King also put down a bunt toward third. Carroll tried to get the lead runner out at third, but the toss went over Cole Bedwell and a run scored.
After the first out of the inning, Ashton Beaird drove in a run on a grounder to third and starting pitcher Britton Moore singled to left field to bring home King.
But the Dragons responded with one run in the second and two in the third.
Springs, who tied a UIL 6A state tournament record with four hits, opened the Carroll second with a single to right and courtesy runner Nolan Harsy advanced to third on a wild pitch and Tyler White grounder to second. Springs is the first player to have four hits in a single tourney game in the largest class since Spencer Jackson in 2003.
Bedwell hit a pitch that was bobbled at short and everyone was safe as Harsy came home to pull Carroll within 3-1.
Ethan Mendoza (Arizona State commit) and Ben Tryon led off the Carroll third with back-to-back walks and both runners advanced on the Max Reyes’ sac bunt. Nick Jones drove in Mendoza with a grounder to short and Springs singled to right to bring home the game-tying run.
Proksch started to settle in. After striking out the final two batters in the top of the third, Proksch retired the side in order in the fourth and fifth innings. He also struck out the final two batters in the fifth.
Proksch also helped his own cause by giving Carroll its first lead with a two-run single in the bottom of the fourth that made it 5-3. White had a lead-off single and Tyson Drake added a one-out single to right field. Proksch drove a 2-2 pitch and Drake and Tanner Sumer scored.
“They just grind out at bats. They do a really good job of not giving away easy outs. Psychologically, that puts a lot of pressure on the other team when they can’t get an easy grounder or any easy pop up,” Carroll coach Larry Vucan said. “You can just see the body language of the other team when we just stay at it and barrel up pitches. It just sends a message to the other team that it’s going to be tough to beat these guys.”
Mendoza followed with a double to left and Tryon’s RBI sac fly to center field upped the Carroll lead to 6-3.
Proksch hit some trouble in the top of the sixth when he loaded the bases and walked in a run to make it 6-4. He was replaced for White, going 5 2/3 innings with three earned runs on four hits and three walks in 99 pitches.
“It was a little shaky start, but we started scoring runs and they held up behind me. Especially when we tied it up 3-3, they didn’t have the advantage anymore. It was a lot easier to come out there and throw some strikes. It’s awesome to get the job done,” Proksch said.
White came in and got the Rattlers to pop up to Proksch in center field.
“Tyler is one of those guys, he hasn’t had a ton of innings, but when he does get in there he’s very effective.,” Vucan said.
“Coming in bases loaded was a little scary, but you know what, I told myself we have a little bit of a lead, keep it close and our offense will keep coming around, and my defense will keep making great plays,” White added. “At the end of the day, we’re now state champs.”
Reyes and Springs drove in runs to give Carroll more cushion in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Proksch, who was voted state championship game MVP, went 2 for 4 with two RBI, Mendoza went 2 for 3 with a run scored and Tryon went 2 for 2 with an RBI.
Proksch, Springs, Mendoza, Reyes and Tryon were named to the 6A state all-tournament team.
Said Proksch, “I’ve worked really hard for this so for it to all pay off, I couldn’t be more excited.”
This story was originally published June 11, 2022 at 6:56 PM.