EDINBURG — Three District 31-5A teams began their day with unbeaten records in league play.
That number now stands at two after Sharyland High defeated Edinburg Vela 16-3 in six innings Wednesday night at Edinburg Vela High School.
The Rattlers (13-2, 5-0) and SaberCats (10-6, 4-1) are scheduled to play Game 2 of their District 31-5A series at 4 p.m. Thursday at Sharyland High School in Mission.
The SaberCats struck first with a three-run first inning off a bases-loaded walk by Joey Garcia and a two-run single from Randon Amador. The Rattlers went on a roll from that point on with 16 unanswered runs, however.
“Cole (Gerlach) was struggling a little bit there in the first inning, but we talked to him and he settled down and pitched his butt off today, and we just had the bats there towards the end,” Sharyland High head coach Austin Bickerton said.
Sharyland put together a five-run fifth and six-run sixth to secure the victory.
Center fielder Alejandro Islas hit a solo home run during the third, a two-run single during the fifth and a grand slam during the sixth to finish 3-for-5 with seven RBIs and two runs for the Rattlers.
“At first, I was just going with our coach’s plan of low line drives, but when I hit that first home run, I was, like, ‘Oh, the ball flies.’ My mentality was just to hit the ball and see what happens, and I got two home runs out of it,” Islas said.
Sharyland starter Cole Gerlach found a rhythm after a shaky first inning in which he gave up two hits, two walks and hit one batter, leading to Vela’s three runs. He proceeded to allow just one hit and two walks while striking out seven during the next 4 2/3 innings.
“The first inning, going into the second, I could feel myself really tense. Coach Bick did a real good job of telling me to calm down and find my rhythm, which when I started finding it in the third, fourth and fifth, I thought I did pretty well,” Gerlach said. “I struck out people I needed to strike out and my defense made good plays, so that’s all I basically needed to have a good win like this.”
Sharyland’s Santiago Soto, Nick Valdez and Gerlach each had two RBIs apiece.
Edinburg Vela will look to bounce back in Game 2 on Thursday against the Rattlers.
“We ran into a buzzsaw today. We’ve been rolling, throwing a bunch of strikes, giving ourselves a chance. We’ve been playing pretty well, we were bound to have one,” Edinburg Vela head coach Jaime Perez said. “I think (today), we’re going to be a lot better. That’s what I told the guys. ‘It’s baseball. Flick it off and come battle tomorrow.’”
Sharyland will look to keep its unblemished district record intact with a quick turnaround.
“We can’t let our kids get complacent. They’re a well-coached team, very talented and they’re not going to lay down the next game,” Bickerton said.