The Blanco Panther Baseball Team spent the past weekend hosting the 5th Annual Blanco Baseball Tournament. After beginning the season with an easy win on Monday, the Panthers continued their solid play. They picked up three wins on Friday, only to finish 1 and 1 on Saturday, taking 3rd place overall.

In the first game Friday morning, Blanco avenged last year’s loss to Llano’s JV by a score of 21 to 0. Junior Grady Childress picked up his first win of the year, allowing just one hit late in the game. Senior John Pepper went deep twice at the plate for the second straight game as he went on to score four runs and drove in five. The Panthers’ next game would see Keaton Dodd give up just two runs on two hits while striking out six to pick up his first win of the season as Blanco coasted to a 10 to 2 victory over the San Saba Armadillos. Once again, John Pepper supplied the offensive spark for the Panthers with another homerun. In the final game on Friday, junior Clint Dreyer picked up win number two on the year with a dominating performance, striking out eleven and allowing just two hits as the Panthers defeated the Florence Buffaloes 9 to 1. Pepper hit his sixth dinger of the year and Tyler Tredaway went 3 for 4 at the plate, scoring two runs and picking up 3 RBI’s.

After claiming the number one seed from the Friday pool, the Panthers looked poised for a run to the championship game. However, the TMI Panthers had a different plan as they held Blanco to just two runs on four hits while handing Blanco its first loss of the year by a score of 6 to 2. Senior Blake West took the loss on the mound after taking over for Ethan Evans. In the following game for third place, West stayed on the mound and eventually picked up the win to even his record at 1 and 1. Although the game ended in a tie, the Panthers won on the tie breaker, while also out-hitting the Stockdale Brahmas 9 to 5. Ethan Evans provided the offensive punch for Blanco going 2 for 3 with his first homerun of the year.

In taking home the third place trophy, Blanco also had three players recognized on the all-tournament team; John Pepper, Tyler Tredaway, and Brooks Wyatt. Overall, the Panthers finished the tournament 4 and 1, having beaten the tournament champion Florence Buffaloes.

The Panther Baseball team would like to thank all of the volunteers who helped make this year’s tournament such a success, as well as the following businesses and individuals for award donations: Blanco National Bank, Blanco Floral, Myane Realtors, K & C, Rileys BBQ, Blanco Farm Bureau, and Dean Myane.