By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
Brownsville Veterans Memorial’s Fred Villarreal continues to leave hitters shaking their heads.
The University of Houston commit continued his scoreless streak and the Chargers scored a pair of first inning runs in a 2-0 victory over Hanna in District 32-6A baseball action on Thursday at Brownsville Veterans.
“I give a huge shout out to my catcher (Santiago Moody), he knows the ball placement,” Villarreal said. “I trust him and my pitches on the locations, but in that last inning I missed a few spots. But it had me excited. I haven’t been put in that kind of pressure, so I was hyped up. I love pressure, I’m just glad I didn’t fall under the pressure.”
The senior right-hander allowed just three hits, walked one and struck out 15 while outdueling Golden Eagles starting pitcher Noe Guerrero. The Hanna sophomore was also impressive, as he allowed two runs on just five hits, a pair of walks and struck out four in 5 2/3 innings of work. Lee Alonzo relieved Guerrero in the sixth and recorded a strikeout to end the inning.
“I didn’t think it was going to be a 2-0 game. I thought we were both going to score runs,” Brownsville Veterans coach Eric Gonzalez said. “Their guy did the same thing, keeping us off balanced like Freddy did with them. He’s just a sophomore and did a good job facing some seniors. We’re just glad to get out of here with a win.”
Brownsville Veterans put two runs across in the first inning. Moody reached on a single and Villarreal reached on a fielder’s choice. Christian Chapa, a pinch runner for Villarreal, almost got caught in a run down after a pick off move by Guerrero, but the Hanna first baseman couldn’t get the ball to second quick enough.
The next batter, David Anaya, reached on an error and Chapa scored on the errant throw. Two batters later, Noe Solis hit a hard shot to left field for a RBI-single to score Anaya and finish out the day’s scoring.
Though the Chargers didn’t give Villarreal much offense, he didn’t really need much help once again. Villarreal kept Hanna’s hitters off-balanced with a steady mix of fastballs and breaking balls.
“We knew we had to shorten up our swings, we couldn’t load up and challenge (Villarreal),” Hanna coach Eddie Garcia said.
“We’re not used to that velocity. We tried to choke up and shorten our swings, but even then he has a good little breaking ball that was hard (to hit).”
Villarreal had little trouble against the Eagles’ hitters until the seventh. Israel Lambarri started the inning with a double to left center and Alonzo followed with a single to put runners on the corners. Villarreal settled down, refocused and struck out the side to end the threat and seal the win.
“We had a chance in the seventh inning, we needed one or two more hits … we didn’t get them,” Garcia said. “That’s been the story in every loss we’ve had … it’s been the timely hits. That’s our nemesis right now.
“That kid’s tough, he’s one-of-a-kind.”
Garcia praised his sophomore pitcher for remaining focused and calm.
“Noe settled down and we stopped the bleeding, and after that he was tough also,” Garcia said after the two-run first inning. He’s my go-to guy, he works hard. He learned, he pitched against the best, 1 through 9 they all swing the bats. He gave us a chance, what else can I ask for?”
Villarreal has now pitched 14 scoreless innings in district play, allowed just three hits, walked one and struck out 30.
“Freddy’s done a fantastic job. Under pressure he throws strikes and he’s done a fantastic job,” Gonzalez said.
With a tough district win, the Chargers coach hopes this type of game helps his team down the road.
“It shows us we’re a good team that can handle pressure, and hopefully, if there’s another game like this we can pull through,” Gonzalez said. “This was a good test for us and I’m glad we came out on top.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.