BY BRYAN RAMOS | STAFF WRITER
EDINBURG — His name is Nicholas. He goes by Nick. But after Friday’s performance against Edinburg Vela, you can call him “No-hit Nick.”
Harlingen South senior Nick Muniz pitched a no-hitter against the SaberCats to lead the Hawks to a 6-0 victory on Day 2 of the ECISD All-American Classic at Edinburg Vela High School.
“I just wanted to attack the strike zone, try to get outs for my team and put balls in play so our guys could make some plays,” Muniz said. “The defense backed me up good. We’ve been working out a lot.”
On Day 1 of the tourney, Vela put up 32 runs in two games, beating Mission Veterans 20-1 and McAllen Memorial 12-3. But against Harlingen South, Muniz was dealing from the moment he stepped on the mound as he kept Vela off-balance and guessing the entire game. He struck out one batter each of the five innings played and walked just one man in the bottom of the fifth.
“He was gutsy, man. He put the team on his back,” Harlingen South coach Chris Gracia said. “He had a different mentality that he was going to go out there and shut them down and that’s what he did. Give him credit. He was working through some injuries and this is the first one that he gets to go all out in and he did a great job, so we’re excited to see that.”
Harlingen South scored the game’s first run during the third inning, when they had runners on the corners in David Torres on first base and Armando Martinez on third. Torres broke for second, and Vela catcher Jaime Perez Jr. locked on his target, throwing him out before he could touch the base. But Martinez jumped on the opening and made his way home safely before the tag to put the Hawks up 1-0.
The Hawks scored five more runs with timely hitting and perfectly placed bunts, including RBIs from Chase Roberts, Edgar Arreola and Torres.
“The kids executed what we called and that’s what we’re going to have to do to win,” Gracia said. “We just have to execute our game and play our way and good things will happen.”
The Harlingen South Hawks wrap up pool play at the ECISD All-American Classic 2-1-1 with wins over Vela and Mission Veterans (11-0), a tie against Valley View (6-6), and a loss to McAllen Memorial (10-8).