MISSION — La Joya Palmview extended its winning streak to 11 games by taking down Sharyland Pioneer 4-2 in a back-and-forth Game 1 in their Region IV-5A area-round playoff series Thursday at Mission Veterans High School.
The Lobos improve to 26-7 overall and take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series. The Diamondbacks drop to 27-6-1 on the year.
Game 2 between Palmview and Pioneer is set for 6 p.m. Friday at Sharyland Pioneer High School in Mission. Game 3, if necessary, is scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday at Mission Veterans High School.
“We kept telling the kids we’re going to stick to the plan, not press in the batter’s box and not to get ourselves down on defense if things don’t go our way,” Palmview head coach Rick Garcia said. “We know they’re one heck of a ball club, so we know that we have to stick to the plan. Now we go back to the drawing board and draw up a plan for (today) and Saturday. That’s what we have to do.”
Palmview’s Josiah Gonzalez delivered a two-run single during the bottom of the first to put the Lobos on the board 2-0. Pioneer responded with one run in the second and third innings off an RBI double by Josh Cuellar and an RBI single by Dannel Marrero to even things at 2.
Renso Tamez broke the tie with a two-out RBI single during the bottom of the fourth, which proved to be the game-winning run. Tamez drove in another run during the bottom of the sixth to make it a 4-2 game.
“They’re a great team. We knew we had to come in and handle business, hit with runners in scoring position, keep moving them over and not letting it get to us if we get out. I’m proud of our guys,” Gonzalez said.
“I think the key to our success tonight was being disciplined behind the plate, we had to wait for a strike and put some good swings on the ball when we had to,” Tamez said.
Palmview pitcher Mateo Garcia allowed two runs off 10 hits and one walk, striking out four. The Lobos’ defense helped his cause by making big play after big play to keep the Diamondbacks out of scoring position with a pair of double plays and throwing runners out at third on two occasions. Derek Garza earned the save by getting the last batter to ground out to shortstop.
Ruben Lopez pitched six innings for the Diamondbacks, allowing three earned runs off 10 hits and one walk with four strikeouts.
Pioneer now faces the same scenario it did in Round 1 — a 1-0 series deficit after Game 1. The Diamondbacks responded impressively to take Games 2 and 3 to knock off Harlingen South last time. They’ll have to do it again against the Lobos to advance to the regional quarterfinal round.
“I think that we need to clean up just little things. When you get to these rounds of the playoffs it has to be almost a perfect game, and Palmview did a great job (Thursday) of capitalizing off our errors,” Pioneer head coach Adrian Leal said. “We just got to be a little more clean all the way around. I think our guys played well for the most part. We’ve got diving plays, ball bounces out of the glove. They hit the ball well and Ruben battled up there against a good offensive team, so we have to adapt to change and overcome.”