BEEVILLE — La Joya Palmview has become familiar with walk-off runs during its postseason run. During each of its first three playoff series, the Lobos have won at least one game with a walk-off.
Palmview was on the wrong side of the walk-off Friday.
Tied 2-2 in the bottom of the seventh, Leander Rouse’s Blake Gonzalez sailed a ball into center field, bringing in Tyler Espinosa to secure the 3-2 victory and the sweep of the Lobos during Game 2 of a best-of-three Region IV-5A semifinal series at Coastal Bend College’s baseball field.
“When you come to this level, you find out every team is good,” La Joya Palmview head coach Ricky Garcia said. “You have to make sure you don’t make errors. Everything went according to our game plan, but sometimes we didn’t make the plays we needed to make. We made a couple of errors here and there, and it went their way. I’m proud of this team because they kept on fighting and never gave up. That is what kept us together.”
The loss ends the Lobos’ historic season, which featured Palmview advancing to the fourth round for the first time in program history.
They finish with a 29-10 overall record, including playoff wins over Corpus Christi King, Sharyland Pioneer and Edinburg Vela in the bi-district, area and regional quarterfinal rounds, respectively.
“We’ve been talking about this season since August,” Garcia said. “I told the guys then if they wanted to make this a special season, we had to work hard in the offseason and take it into the season. That is exactly what we did. When you play tough teams in certain tournaments, it pays off. The kids put it all together. We had great leadership from our seniors. Those guys are outstanding ball players and kept the team together. Not only them, but the young ones that are starters, too. They worked together to keep this team going throughout the whole season.”
The Lobos and the Raiders traded runs during the first two innings, and were tied 2-2 heading into the third.
Palmview got on the board first with an RBI single by Josiah Gonzalez, bringing in Joe Cerda to make it 1-0 after one.
The Raiders answered almost instantly, with Rayner Heinrich delivering a bomb to left field for a one-run homer to tie the game during Rouse’s first at-bat.
Palmview retook the lead during the top of the second, with senior Tony Villarreal stealing the home to make it 2-1. The lead was short-lived again, with Gonzalez bringing in his first of two RBIs of the day during the bottom of the second to knot it at 2.
After a back-and-forth start, the teams buckled down defensively, with neither allowing another run during the next four innings. A quick 1-2-3 inning in the top of the seventh for Palmview set up Rouse for the go-ahead run.
With just one out remaining, Gonzalez delivered the biggest hit of the day, placing the ball just past the outstretched glove of Palmview’s Tony Villarreal for the walk-off score to end the Lobos historic playoff run.
“I told our guys these are big shoes to follow up,” Garcia said. We can’t be satisfied with getting to this round anymore. We got a taste of it, and now we have to work hard to get past this round. The Sweet 16 is no joke. Everybody at this level can play.”