McALLEN — The McAllen Memorial Mustangs are headed to the regional quarterfinal round of the state playoffs for the first time in 34 years after defeating Corpus Christi Veterans 7-5 in Game 3 of their Region IV-5A area round playoff series Saturday at McAllen Memorial High School.
The Mustangs (22-12) won Game 1 of the series 4-1 on Thursday in Corpus Christi before dropping Game 2, 12-4, on Saturday afternoon to set up the decisive Game 3 Saturday evening.
“It was a dog-fight, man and it says a lot about our guys,” McAllen Memorial head coach Roque Cortinas said. “We got beat pretty bad that second game, but we re-grouped and came back and that’s what we’ve been doing recently.”
McAllen Memorial will now meet crosstown rival McAllen High in the regional quarterfinal round of the playoffs. Game details are to be determined.
Memorial used a five-run fifth inning to storm past CC Veterans for a 6-3 lead after five. The Mustangs added an insurance run in the top of the seventh and the Eagles scored twice in the bottom half of the inning to make it a 7-5 ballgame.
“I think that was our last boost of energy we had. We let it out right there and we needed every run to win the game,” Cortinas said.
Sophomore left-handed pitcher RJ Rios hadn’t made any appearances in the last month but he was lights out on Saturday in 6 1/3 innings of work to help lift the Mustangs to victory. Sophomore Kane Coy earned the save with two outs and one strikeout in the bottom of the seventh as CC Veterans served as the home team in Game 3.
“Nobody better to get that job done. That kid is resilient, works his butt off and hasn’t played much at all because we have some upperclassmen that pitch a lot for us, but he got the call and he was ready,” Cortinas said about Rios.
“I’m feeling ecstatic,” Rios said. “There’s a lot of dogs behind me and I was just going up there trying to put the ball in the zone and let my defense make some plays. This is a special group. It’s been a ride and it’s not over yet.”
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