DENNIS SILVA II | STAFF WRITER
HIDALGO – Before he started high school at Hidalgo four years ago, Oscar Noguera’s family moved to the United States from Mexico.
They wanted to get away from the violence plaguing Reynosa, Tamaulipas. They were desperate for more opportunity.
“It was humbling. It was very different, a big change,” said Noguera, whose father still works in Reynosa while his mother takes care of the family in Hidalgo. “I knew it was going to be hard, so I worked hard at it. I came all this way to become someone. I never lost sight of that. So no matter how hard the language was, the classes were, I worked to become who I want to be.”
It was a move that paid off. After not playing his freshman year following his transfer because of UIL rules, Noguera won just two games as a sophomore before eventually working his way into the role of the ace for the Pirates, leading the program to consecutive trips to the Elite 8.
Noguera was a Class 4A All-State selection this year, going 13-2 with a 1.11 ERA and 137 strikeouts to 22 walks, allowing just 15 earned runs in 90.2 innings. Because of his success, the senior is RGVSports.com’s 2015 All-Valley Player of the Year.
His coach, Karlos Carrasco, is RGVSports.com’s 2015 All-Valley Coach of the Year, with his team the last Rio Grande Valley baseball program standing for the third consecutive year.
The two are intertwined. You can’t talk about Noguera’s success without recognizing Carrasco, and vice versa.
“He was unhittable this year, and it’s incredible,” Carrasco said. “Going from having just 16 strikeouts his sophomore year to 137 this year … it just doesn’t happen overnight. It’s from all the battles, all his work and everything he went through.”
Noguera’s first year on varsity was his sophomore year, which also happened to be Carrasco’s first as a head coach.
Carrasco helped Noguera adapt to a new culture and way of life in a new country. On the field, he brought him along slowly, always one to protect his pitchers from a game that can be mentally abusive.
“It was very good that we started at the same time,” Noguera said. “We were able to develop good chemistry and a good relationship.”
Carrasco was the hometown kid living the dream, guiding the same team he used to play for on the same field he used to play on. Noguera was quiet, observant. He watched everything and everyone, on and off the field, so he could learn quickly.
Fast forward two years after that sophomore season, and Noguera looks nothing like the young man he was then.
This season, he was dominant. His best pitch is a slider and he can throw all pitches for strikes. The most important thing, however, is he never got down on himself. Not during the rough start to his baseball career. Not during his junior season, tasked with leading a team of which he was the only returning starter. And certainly not this season, when Hidalgo made Valley history by becoming the first program in any sport to be ranked No. 1 in the state in the preseason.
“The most improvement for me came in my responsibility,” Noguera said. “I came into my junior year knowing I was going to be the ace pitcher. You have to prepare harder than you ever did before. What I proved the most is I got better every day.”
Carrasco got better as well. He learned to relax and trust the team, he said.
The Pirates fought through the bull’s-eye of facing high expectations and injuries to three pitchers during district play. They still came out of it co-district champions and with another trip to the Elite 8, falling a game shy of state.
Now Noguera is off to be an infielder/relief pitcher at Ranger College, with the hopes of landing at Texas A&M-Kingsville or Texas A&M-Corpus Christi after his two years are up at the community college. Carrasco, meanwhile, has to start over, but at least with a program of standard he and Noguera helped create.
The duo was responsible for 81 wins over the last three years.
“My challenge coming into this next year is re-teaching kids how to battle,” Carrasco said. “We’re going to be young and it’ll be a building year. Oscar’s group left some high expectations, and I thank him.
“He took this program to a level this program’s never been. Hopefully, this sets the foundation.”