‘This group is special’: Southlake Carroll baseball aims to capitalize on talent

Southlake Carroll baseball is back in a familiar spot in the UIL high school baseball postseason.

Taking away the COVID-19 tournament in 2020 that was called off, the Dragons are in the third round of the postseason for the sixth time in the past seven seasons.

Carroll is coming off a two-game sweep over Wolfforth Frenship at Rider Stadium in Frisco. The Dragons won 8-0 on Friday and 5-0 on Saturday to complete the sweep.

Carroll improved to 28-7-1 with the two wins.

The series sweep featured plenty of moments when the Dragons took advantage of what the Tigers gave them.

The Dragons had only two extra base hits, but ran wild against the Tigers on the bases and the pitching was superb.

“It’s not like we blew the cover off the ball in both games, but we did just enough,” said Jack Fuller, who started on the mound in Game 1 and then played first base in Game 2.

In the two wins, the Dragons gave up 0 runs and only four hits between three pitchers.

“I can’t give enough credit to our pitching coach, Jake Moore, who did a great job with the scouting report,” Southlake coach Larry Vucan said. “Those guys were on fire coming into this series; the last 8 to 10 games, they were hitting at a .350 clip out west. We were obviously concerned, but we had a great game plan, and we stuck to it, and the pitchers executed the game plan.”

Fuller, a Weatherford College signee, set the tone in Game 1 for the Dragons.

The southpaw struck out 10 and gave up 3 hits in an 8-0 win Friday night. Fuller was aided by the Dragons scoring a run in the first inning. He said that it took a little pressure off of him.

Then, he just went out and dominated. After giving up a two-out single in the first, Fuller then retired the next 13 in a row.

A one-out single by Noah Ingram in the 6th broke that streak for Frenship.

“Once I got in the rhythm, it felt good and I just kept going,” Fuller said.

The Dragons then turned to 6-foot-3 right-hander Ethan Baiotto. The Tennessee pledge is ranked No. 92 in the country by Perfect Game.

He didn’t have his best stuff, but he went 6 innings, giving up 1 hit and 0 runs.

Baiotto was sick and had to get an IV to feel up for pitching. He even said it wasn’t his best effort, but he knew he wasn’t going to be 100%.

He left the game with a 1-0 lead after the top of the sixth. The Dragons responded by getting 4 runs to give some breathing room.

“Right after the sixth, he (Vulcan) told me I was done,” Baiotto said. “I was getting a little wild, so it was probably the right call.”

He walked four, had two wild pitches, hit two batters, had a throwing error and fanned three.

“You bend, but you don’t break,” Vucan said. “I thought he did a really good job, and also, our infield did a really good job of making players when they had the opportunities.”

In the fifth inning, he escaped a bases-loaded jam with two outs. His defense turned a double play in the sixth to erase a leadoff single.

“Our defense is really good,” Baiotto said. “I have confidence in them. So, just pitching to contact and letting these guys hit into outs. It’s awesome having these guys behind me.”

McLennan College signee Tanner Carson went in the final inning and struck out four — thanks to a passed ball — to end the game.

Running wild

The Dragons had 8 hits in each game but both game features one defining trait — taking advantage of the running game.

In Game 2, the contest was scoreless after three innings.

Ashton Ybarra singled and moved up to third base on a pair of grounders. Max Wu hit a grounder to shortstop that looked to have ended the inning, but it was misplayed and Ybarra scooted home for what was the winning run in the 5-0 victory.

Ybarra scored a second run in the sixth inning on a throwing error.

A wild pitch and bases-loaded walk also led to runs in the 4-run sixth. Of the 5 runs scored, the Dragons had only 2 RBI and only one was on a hit.

In Game 1, the Dragons had 9 stolen bases. Truett Claffey swiped three and Davis Perkins had a pair.

That also went back to scouting. Vucan said they noticed something scouting Frenship that would allow the running game to take advantage.

“The fact that we could create some chaos on the bases, nine stolen bases and then four sacrifice bunts, we made them make plays and that put pressure on them,” Vucan said. “That’s a big contributor and that’s a big part of the engine of our offense.”

Kind of new

The postseason success is something that is pretty common around Southlake. Of the five UIL baseball titles, three were won in 2018, 2019 and 2022.

The past two years, however, haven’t been quite as successful. In 2023, the Dragons were bounced in the second round. Last year, Keller knocked out the Dragons in the regional semifinals.

There are only 16 teams left in the Class 6A Division II playoffs — the first time UIL will award two titles per class in baseball.

It will be a chance to add to the tradition.

“(Vulcan) has been telling us all year that this group is special,” Fuller said. “We got a real chance if we just keep playing the way we have all year.”

The group is entirely new from the last time the Dragons had success in terms of state championships.

However, some last names are the same.

The 2022 state title team featured Colin Robson, Eric Thiel and Seaver Newby.

The 2025 roster has Adam Thiel, Cooper Newby and Evan Robson.

I think all of our programs there’s just a culture of winning,” Vucan said. “I think everybody in the hallways expects that from each other. That’s why we’re very fortunate for sure.”

Up next

The Dragons will face Denton Guyer in the regional semifinals this week.

Guyer will go to Southlake on Thursday and then the Dragons travel to Denton on Friday.

If a game three is necessary, the game will be at 4 p.m., Saturday, at Dallas Baptist University.

According to stats on MaxPreps, the Dragons are 8-2 against Guyer dating back to 2011.

The last meeting was won by the Dragons on March 12, 2022.

The winner of this series will face either Flower Mound Marcus or Trophy Club Byron Nelson in the next round.

“I love pitching with these guys,” Fuller said. “We are really deep. We didn’t use our whole staff this weekend. Which just shows I think we can go as far as our pitching really takes us. That’s our strength and we got to keep using it.”