Hendrickson High’s Tyler Baker has certainly made the most of his one year of varsity baseball.

The senior Hawk right fielder entered this weekend’s playoffs carrying a .370 batting average with 24 runs scored and 18 RBIs, his stats inflated by a great series against Hutto in the third round of the playoffs. Baker went five for seven against the Hippos with four RBI and four runs scored. Not a bad performance from a guy who was playing in just his third playoff series ever.

“This has been the most fun I’ve had playing,” Baker said of this year. “It’s been fun playing with all these guys. It was tough when I was on (junior varsity). I was not feeling it. Now I’ve come in and made an impact and it feels pretty good.”

The Hutto pitchers certainly felt the impact of Baker’s bat. He crushed a three-run double that helped the Hawks fight back from a 5-0 deficit and eventually win the second game of the series. This came after a two-hit performance in the first game where he scored two of Hendrickson’s four runs.

“I was definitely seeing the ball better,” he said. “I always go up to the plate with the intention of hitting (Tyler) Havins in or moving him over.”

Baker said he began playing baseball as most kids do, in t-ball. However, he said his love for the game started much earlier than that.

“I always liked watching it when I was younger,” he said. “My dad got me one of those Velcro gloves and I was playing catch with him before I could walk.”

Over the years his love for the sport has grown and one aspect in particular has come to the forefront as his favorite part of playing – the competition.

“It’s a big part of it,” Baker said of competing. “Getting a hit, it feels good when you do something to help your team.”

While he has helped this year’s Hawks get further than any Hendrickson baseball team that has come before them, Baker says there is still more for this talented group to accomplish.

“We’ve been doing pretty good, but our work isn’t over,” he said. “We’re still working hard.”

He believes it will be this hard work, the time he and his Hendrickson mates spend practicing, which will ultimately decide how long they can prolong their season.

“We have to keep working hard,” he said. “We need to get everyone working on all cylinders and keep playing the way we’ve been playing.”

Editor’s note: The Hawks lost in two games to Corpus Christi Calallen this past weekend.