TJ GARCIA | SPECIAL TO THE MONITOR
EDINBURG — The Los Fresnos Falcons capitalized on Edinburg North’s mistakes, repeatedly drew walks and used a handful of timely hits to squash the Cougars 11-2 Saturday afternoon and claim the best-of-three Class 6A bi-district series 2-1.
Los Fresnos, the District 32-6A champion, drew 11 walks and had three more players hit by pitches. Three Falcons pitchers combined for a five-hitter, moving Los Fresnos on to a second-round matchup against the Mission Eagles.
Edinburg North, meanwhile, concluded the season 15-15-2. The Cougars barely lost Game 1, 5-4, and then nipped Los Fresnos in Game 2 by the same score. Cougars coach Richard Valdez and his players said they were proud of the way the team fought, but they ultimately could not overcome the mistakes.
“Coming into the series, I told the guys this would be a very evenly matched series, and that we had to eliminate the errors and eliminate the walks,” Valdez said. “And in the innings where they got their runs, I think we had the walks and a hit batsman. There were other things that contributed to their big innings.”
Valdez added that the coaching staff implored Edinburg North’s pitchers to make Los Fresnos keep the ball in play. Instead, the Falcons were getting on base for free.
“And they took advantage of it, and they are district champs for a reason,” Valdez said.
Los Fresnos did not hit the ball very well on Saturday, belting out just six hits in the seven-inning game. However, Falcons batters were very patient at the plate. They pounced on the Cougars early in the game by scoring three runs on two hits, three walks and an error in the third inning, and then followed with four more runs in the fourth on two hits and five walks — including three consecutive.
Edinburg North made pitching changes, but to no avail. All told, Edinburg North pitchers combined to throw 175 pitches and faced 43 batters in the nearly three-hour contest.
After batting around the order in the fourth inning, Los Fresnos did it again in the top of the seventh with two hits, four free bases and an error. The late surge gave Los Fresnos 11 total runs, which was more than enough to beat Edinburg North and advance. Los Fresnos coach Rene Morales said the Falcons’ approach to the game was to use patience.
“I knew they were down, just like we were down, on pitching, and we just took advantage of that pitching getting a little tired,” Morales said. “We were able to score a few runs on them. It’s the third game, and every man has to be up and ready to go.”
Morales added that the Falcons did not relax, even with a 7-1 lead after four innings. He said given what happened in the first two games, Los Fresnos was not going to take Edinburg North for granted — even with a big lead.
Though North’s season came to a close, Valdez said he was proud of his squad, which is loaded with underclassmen.