BY SAUL BERRIOS-THOMAS | STAFF WRITER
HIDALGO — With the game tied at 3 in the top of the fourth inning, thing started to unravel for the Hidalgo Pirates.
Robstown used aggressive base running to turn a single and a walk into men on second and third with no outs. Robstown pitcher Jacob Garcia fell behind 1-2 at the plate but dug in and started battling. He fouled off pitch after pitch until on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, the offering from senior Samuel Jimenez sailed to the backstop. The runner at third scored and the runner at second advanced 90 feet. Garcia walked on the tenth pitch of the at-bat.
“I felt tired,” Jimenez said. “I was out in the fifth inning with 110 pitches, and that’s not good.”
Hidalgo lost Game 1 of a Class 4A Region IV quarterfinal series against Robstown, 6-3.
The Pirates would nail the runner coming home, but Garcia’s courtesy runner, Julian Salinas would come around to score, giving Robstown a 5-3 lead.
Hidalgo stranded runners at second and third in the bottom of the fourth.
In the fifth inning, Jimenez led off with a single. Third baseman Luis Rosales followed.
“All we were trying to do was get in scoring position,” coach Karlos Carrasco said. “We were still kind of in the game. I sent the sign for a bunt.”
Rosales’ bunt rolled into no man’s land between third base and the mound. The Robstown third baseman, Austin Kwiatkowski, fielded the ball, but didn’t have a throw at either base. Jimenez broke for third, seeing that the base was uncovered, but Kwiatkowski beat him to the bag and made the tag. The out was devastating and effectively ended the Pirates rally.
“I was thinking that the third baseman would throw the ball to first,” Jimenez said. “That’s a mental error. That turned the game.”
“I think he was trying to overdo it,” Carrasco said. “I did not send him. My hands were up. … I know he’s trying to be aggressive, but at this point you can only do so much.”
The Pirates capitalized on Robstown’s errors early, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first on three errors and a walk, but it was Robstown who took advantage of errors at the end to win the game.
“We just kind of gave up, and we couldn’t recover well,” Carrasco said. “We couldn’t bounce back from one little thing. I still like the fight that our kids had. We still tried to come back, but at this level, every inch counts, and we couldn’t fight for that inch. Hats down to Robstown. They played good baseball out there. They took advantage of the chances we gave them.”
The game was back and fourth early. After Hidalgo scored two in the first, Robstown answered with three runs in the second. In the bottom half of the inning, Hidalgo used a pair of doubles from second baseman Raul Robles and shortstop Dylan Dougherty to even the game at 3.
Robstown tacked on an insurance run in the sixth, when center fielder Jose Molina reached on a hit-by-pitch and came in to score on a wild pitch.
Robstown gave Hidalgo fits on the base paths. In all, Robstown swiped eight bags and was only caught stealing once.
“They are fast, and we knew they were fast,” Carrasco said. “They are good at doing that. We did catch them, once or twice. We just had some bad throws to the bases.”
The Pirates are eager for Game 2 at 7 tonight in Robstown. Robstown was very vocal throughout the game, and the Pirates didn’t enjoy listening to their opponents.
“We need to get revenge tomorrow,” Jimenez said. “They were bothering us. Tomorrow we are going to beat them. We have to.”
“We need to come out tomorrow and be prepared to get the win,” Rosales added. “We need to get serious and come back better than today.”