DENNIS SILVA II | STAFF WRITER
HIDALGO — Don’t get too confident. Stick together. Play every pitch like it’s the last.
Hidalgo’s baseball team knows what it has to do going into its Class 4A regional final Saturday against El Campo at 2 p.m. at Cabaniss Field in Corpus Christi. The Pirates (25-5-1) are in the Elite 8 for the second straight season, and losing to Sinton in the best-of-three series last year is recalled all too vividly.
“We have to play as a team, we have to work through the bad times,” junior infielder Mike Alvarez said. “Last season, (Sinton) got up on us, started scoring some runs and we just gave up. We have to stay on top.”
Hidalgo coach Karlos Carrasco saw the Sinton setback coming. He saw the Pirates outlast Kingsville King and La Vernia to earn a trip to the Elite 8. Those teams, Carrasco said, were better than Hidalgo, and “I knew it was going to catch up to us.”
“That team from last year got a little rattled,” Carrasco said. “The moment really got to them. They didn’t really understand or know the significance of the Sweet 16 or the Elite 8, and in a way that was good but it can also work against you.
“As we went through, they started getting pumped up, being one game from state. We were ready, but we were just so young.”
Carrasco and every Pirate coach and player all say that this year’s Pirates are not the same team. There are 10 seniors on the club, and each one has made sure the team has played with a purpose this season.
That means every rep taken during practice is done at game-speed. That means taking advantage of mistakes gifted by the opponent. More importantly, it’s meant a 7-0 spree through these playoffs, with Hidalgo outscoring opponents by 4.2 runs per game.
“Last year was an amazing feeling, being the first Hidalgo baseball team to go to the Elite 8,” said senior ace Oscar Noguera, who carries his 13-1 record and 0.84 ERA into today’s game. “The difference between last year and this year is we’re seniors now. This is our last ride.
“We know how it feels to lose the Elite 8. We don’t want that to happen again.”
Carrasco didn’t need this sterling playoff performance as proof of Noguera’s words. He saw it during a district game against La Feria that Hidalgo won in extra innings.
“Mike (Alvarez) got hurt, I had to bring in Oscar, who was pitching the next game, a big one against Zapata … I was a mess,” Carrasco said. “I was just thrown off.”
His team wasn’t. Even when La Feria loaded the bases late, Noguera pitched the Pirates out of it. Hidalgo held on for a nice win against a playoff-caliber foe.
“Those are the little things that you could tell what we had,” Carrasco said. “The kids know all it takes is one hit. One inning. It’s been contagious. They feed off each other. And now we’re back in the final eight and they’re not rattled. Not at all.”
Carrasco likes his team’s chances Saturday. He won’t brag about it, but he has a comfort of certainty going into this regional final that he didn’t have going into last year’s. It’s a feeling players boast as well.
“Every ground ball we play has to be like our last ground ball,” sophomore infielder Dylan Dougherty said. “I think we’ve done a good job of that pretty much all season. We don’t let our guard down. We have a stronger focus.”
It’s a one-game series and anything can happen. But Carrasco likes that his team will be rested. He likes its maturity. And he likes the way the Pirates have been playing, buoyed by Noguera and a dominant offense averaging 9.1 runs.
Last year, playing Game 2 against Sinton after winning Game 1, the Pirates fell behind early and never got back. The bats went cold. The defense stalled. The pitching withered.
Sinton rallied to win Games 2 and 3 and stun Hidalgo.
“This is not that group,” Carrasco said. “This is a team always ready for the next play. It’s what this team is, and I feel more confident going into this series than I did last year’s.
“I think Sinton was a team last year like we are today.”
If Carrasco is to be proven right, the Pirates will be just the third Valley baseball team, and first from the Upper Valley, since 1980 to make it to the state tournament.
“Since the beginning of this season, we knew we could get back here,” Noguera said. “I know what my teammates are made of. We’ve all been playing together since we were kids.
“We know what we’ve got, and we’re ready.”