Posted: Sun, 9 May 2010 09:28 AM - 8,232 Readers

By: Danny Davis

A day after losing their series lead, the Lake Travis Cavaliers stole back their bidistrict playoff series on Saturday.

Fueled by a dozen stolen bases, Lake Travis rolled by Crockett for a 10-2, series-clinching victory at Garrison Field.

The Cavaliers — who no-hit Crockett in a 15-0 victory on Thursday before losing 12-11 on Friday — advanced to play Boerne Champion in the Class 4A area playoffs.

"It feels good to get the first (series) win," senior third baseman Kevin Conroy said. "We didn't want to lose the first one. Now that we've got that I think we'll be fine."

The Cavaliers blew open a 1-1 game with two runs in the third inning, three in the fourth and four in the fifth .

Lake Travis, which had eight hits, took advantage of an aggressive attack on the basepaths. The Cavaliers were a perfect 12 for 12 on steal attempts. Conroy had four steals, and Austin Lee and Brad Kuntz each stole three bases.

"We were going to try to be aggressive on the bases, try to make them throw us out," Conroy said. "It helped us. We got a lot of runs because of stolen bases."

"We hope every ball game to be able to run like that," Lake Travis coach Roy Kinnan said. "Our kids know that we're going to try to put pressure on the defense, and we were able to do that and it worked out well for us."

Crockett loaded the bases twice against Lake Travis starter Wyatt Church but only mustered runs on an RBI groundout and a Lake Travis fielding error. The Cougars left 10 runners on base.

Crockett committed four errors, three of which led to Lake Travis runs. Crockett pitchers also hit four batters and surrendered a run-scoring balk.

"Yesterday (we) really showed up and played. It was just a matter of time before things just started going Lake Travis' way," Crockett coach Miguel Trevino said. "I never gave up on our boys, but I know for a fact that if you don't play clean baseball, that's just how it goes."

Lake Travis improved its record to 22-14.  Crockett finished at 17-13.

photography by Kelly West