McALLEN — Thursday marked the first day of baseball tournaments for high school teams across Texas, and the McAllen Independent School District Baseball Tournament started off with a bang.
With four sites hosting games — McAllen High, McAllen Memorial, McAllen Rowe and Sharyland Pioneer — there was high level baseball being played across the city.
At McAllen Memorial, Rio Grande City rolled to two big victories against Hidalgo and Memorial. RGC hung 10 runs on both teams, topping the Pirates 10-1, and the Mustangs 10-3. Five different Rattlers — Marc Perez, Mike Ramos, Chris Cantu, Emanuel Saenz and AB Garza — finished the day with three RBIs. It’s a good start to the season for the Rattlers (3-0) as they bring back a group loaded with talent.
At McHi, the Bulldogs went 2-0 on the day with wins over Valley View (8-2) and Brownsville Veterans (4-0). Tristan Cavazos and Jacob Garcia earned the wins for McHi as it goes full steam ahead into Day 2 of the tournament. McHi is set to face Harlingen South at 3:45 p.m. and Orange Grove at 8:15 p.m. today.
At Rowe, the Warriors shut out Raymondville to start the day and followed that up with a 7-2 win over Harlingen High. Meanwhile, the La Joya Palmview Lobos also picked up two big victories on the day at Rowe by beating Harlingen High 9-6 and Flour Bluff 6-0. The Lobos seem to have picked up right where they left off last year.
At Pioneer, the Diamondbacks 10-run ruled Brownsville Hanna, but fell in the final game of the day against Calallen. It’s nothing new for Pioneer, however, as it lost twice to Calallen during the opening week last season, only to go on to qualify for the UIL 5A state tournament.
Also at Pioneer, La Joya Juarez-Lincoln won its second and third games of the season with a 12-7 takedown of Brownsville Hanna and a 5-4 win over District 30-6A opponent Mission High. For a program that’s struggled recently, 2020 has been good to the Huskies early on.
Day 2 of the McAllen ISD Baseball Tournament is set to deliver marquee matchups like McAllen High vs. Harlingen South, Sharyland Pioneer vs. Mission High, Rowe vs. Flour Bluff and Memorial vs. Hidalgo.
To view the complete schedule and results from the McAllen ISD Baseball Tournament, visit RGVSports.com.