The Edinburg Vela SaberCats secured their second consecutive playoff sweep by defeating Corpus Christi Veterans, Texas’ fourth-ranked team in Class 5A, 7-1 in Game 2 of their Region IV-5A area-round series Saturday at Hebbronville High School in Hebbronville.
The SaberCats (25-10) won Game 1 by a score of 6-4 on Friday, leading to the sweep with Saturday’s Game 2 victory. Edinburg Vela will meet the winner of La Joya Palmview and Sharyland Pioneer’s area-round series in next week’s regional quarterfinal round.
| Edinburg Vela |
The Eagles (27-8-1) scored first on an error during the top of the third. The SaberCats wasted no time with their response — a five-run bottom half of the inning.
Ryan Botello and AJ Reyes reached on back-to-back singles to lead off the third. Bobby Garcia walked after a flyout to load the bases, setting up Jake Dufner’s RBI single to center. Izzy Perez followed with a two-run double to give Vela a 3-1 lead. Luke Esparza and Derek Rodriguez capped the inning off with an RBI single and an RBI on a fielder’s choice.
Perez added another run with an RBI triple during the fourth, and Justin Navarro scored on a passed ball during the fifth.
Dufner pitched all seven innings for the SaberCats, allowing one run off four hits and four walks with three strikeouts.
Edinburg Vela returns to the regional quarterfinal round of the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season.
*La Joya Palmview (26-8) and Sharyland Pioneer (28-7-1) will play Game 3 of their Region IV-5A area-round series at 7 p.m. Monday at Mission Veterans High School. The game, previously scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday, was postponed due to inclement weather.
CLASS 6A
PSJA HIGH 5, LAREDO ALEXANDER 3: At Somerset, the Bears punched their ticket to Round 3 with a come-from-behind Game 3 win over the Bulldogs at Somerset High School.
The Bears (24-5) won Game 1, 3-0, and lost Game 2, 8-4, on Friday to set up Saturday’s Game 3.
| PSJA High Courtesy Photo |
Trailing 1-0 in the top of the fifth, PSJA High’s bats came to life with five runs on two outs. Jacob Delgadillo singled and Charlie Zamaripa brought him in with a double to left field. Alexander walked Julius Ramirez, and Vinny Cano made them pay with a two-run single to right field. Austin Flores drove in another run with a single to left, and one more run scored on an error. Zamaripa pitched five innings, allowing one run on five hits and one walk.
PSJA High will face Laredo United in next week’s regional quarterfinal round. Laredo United defeated Los Fresnos in two games to win their area-round playoff series.
EAGLE PASS 3, BROWNSVILLE RIVERA 2, 9 INNINGS: At Laredo, the Raiders’ first area-round playoff appearance since 2004 came to an end in an extra-inning battle against the Eagles in Game 3 at Veterans Field.
Rivera jumped ahead 2-1 during the bottom of the third after a single by Fabian Moreno, a walk by Rolando Rivera and a two-run base hit by Devin Parker.
Eagle Pass tied the game at 2 during the top of the fifth, which carried into the ninth inning before an error gave the Eagles the 3-2 win.
The Raiders (24-16) led the series 1-0 by taking Game 1 on Thursday, 5-0. Vincente Gonzalez had two RBIs, and Alek Guzman and Fabian Moreno had one apiece in the win. Andres Rocha pitched a complete-game shutout with just one hit and two walks allowed, striking out four in Game 1.
The Eagles responded with a 4-0 victory Friday to force Saturday’s decisive Game 3.
GAME 3 – SAN ANTONIO O’CONNOR 8, WESLACO HIGH 7: At San Antonio, the Panthers were on the wrong end of a seventh inning walk-off on sacrifice fly against San Antonio O’Connor on Saturday at Northside Complex.
O’Connor scored two runs in both the sixth and seventh innings to upend Weslaco after a competitive three games between the two.
Weslaco High (22-13-3) won Game 1 on Thursday 2-1 in eight innings and lost Game 2 early Saturday 3-1. The Panthers were in control for the first four innings before O’Connor climbed back into the game one run at a time.
Toby Perez led Weslaco with two RBIs and two runs off 2-for-4 hitting. Alejandro Castillo, Isaiah Garza, Stone Gomez and Evan Zamora finished with one RBI each.
CLASS 5A
CORPUS CHRISTI CARROLL 3, SHARYLAND HIGH 1: At Corpus Christi, the Rattlers fell against the Tigers in a low-scoring, defensive Game 3 on Saturday at Cabaniss Field.
Sharyland’s Diego Diaz walked with two outs during the top of the third and Alejandro Islas brought him home with a hard hit single to right field. Carroll scored one run during the first and two more during the third. The Rattlers (27-7) were unable to get any offense going over the final four innings.
Islas surrendered three runs off seven hits and four walks across 5.2 innings pitched.
CORPUS CHRISTI RAY 6, McALLEN ROWE 4: At Laredo, the Warriors dropped Game 3 of their back-and-forth best-of-three area round playoff series against the No. 6 Texans on Saturday at Uni-Trade Stadium.
Rowe (21-12) fell in a 5-0 hole and sliced into the lead with a three-run fourth inning. The Warriors couldn’t get over the hump, however, as Ray added another run in the fifth.
Ramiro Campos finished 2-for-4 with one RBI, Zavier Garcia went 1-for-1 with two RBIs and one run, and Miguel Soto drove in one and scored once on 2-for-3 hitting.
Rowe won Game 1 of the series 3-2 on Thursday and lost Game 2 9-5 early Saturday.