RIO HONDO — The Rio Hondo Bobcats have played 30 games this season. They’ve won 28 of them, making their 28-2 overall mark the best in program history.
And the Bobcats aren’t done yet.
“We’ve been on an amazing journey, and God has put us on that journey and our boys have worked very hard,” Rio Hondo head coach Sergio Gonzalez said. “It didn’t come overnight. We were on a two-year plan after COVID, and all the struggles we’ve had the last couple years has only made us stronger. We knew this year would line up correctly and everything would be on our side. These boys went out there and worked hard, were able to win 28 out of 30 games this year, and that’s such an amazing feat for our Rio Hondo baseball program.”
Rio Hondo is now ready to make its first regional quarterfinal playoff appearance since 2007 after taking down Taft 1-0 in last week’s area round.
“Coach put together a plan, we all started developing as a team and it all led to this year. Luckily it was my senior year, we all came together and all the pieces, all the Legos, fit together, and now we’re the best team in program history,” four-year letterman Roman Perez said.
The Rio Grande Valley’s only sub-5A squad to advance past the area round this season, Rio Hondo faces a tough task in Round 3 as the Bobcats take on defending state champion and No. 1 Corpus Christi London in a win-or-go-home one-game playoff.
The Region IV-3A quarterfinal between Rio Hondo (28-2) and Corpus Christi London (27-3) is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday at San Diego High School.
Rio Hondo knows anything can happen in a one-game playoff with seven innings, and more if necessary, to decide a winner. The Bobcats already have one one-game playoff victory under their belts, a 1-0 victory over Taft last Friday.
“We like our chances as far as the one-game playoff. Last week, we had the one-game playoff against Taft, a really good team from the Coastal Bend area,” Gonzalez said. “Being the underdog doesn’t put any pressure on us. The pressure is going to be really on (London), and in the game of baseball, anything can happen. It’s going to be our best versus their best, and we’ll see what happens Thursday night.”
Senior Caleb Laster pitched a complete-game shutout with three hits, two walks and eight strikeouts against Taft. Sophomore Aidyn Flores hit a two-out triple, and sophomore third baseman Joshua Laster brought him home for the game-winning run in the bottom of the sixth.
“We have to go big or go home. We got to leave everything on the field,” Flores said. “When I hit that triple, it felt great to have my teammates out there cheering for me, and when Josh brought me in, it felt good to be the only run to win the game against Taft.”
Caleb Laster, the older of the two on the team, leads the nation in strikeouts (166), wins (16) and no-hitters (6), according to MaxPreps. He’s mowed down batters all year with a powerful, precise arm and studies his opponents before taking the field.
He’ll have the ball in his hand again Thursday night in the one-game playoff against Corpus Christi London.
“My teammates don’t really know this, but I’ll scout the team on my own. I’ll try to find videos of them playing, do research of my own, and it’s good to see them bat and how they swing because as a pitcher, it tells you how to throw the ball and where to place it,” Caleb Laster said. “This is going to be a tough game, but I feel like if we play the way we did the last game, it will be a good game. … They have good pitching and good bats, so we’re going to have to play picture perfect defense and basically the same way we did against Taft with no errors. They’re going to be a good defensive sound team, but we have to put the ball in play because you never know what can happen.”