KEVIN K. LU | SPECIAL TO THE MONITOR
MISSION — The Mission Veterans Memorial baseball team continued its hot play by sweeping its doubleheader over Gregory-Portland High on Saturday to advance to the regional quarterfinals for the first time in program history.
After losing 8-5 in Game 1 on Thursday, the Patriots were facing elimination when the series shifted back home Saturday. That’s where Memorial won 4-3 in Game 2 and 8-1 in Game 3 to wrap up their area round series. In going to the third round, the Patriots will face District 31-5A rivals Roma, which lost to Mission Veterans in both of their meetings this season.
Mission Veterans’ Noel Vela was the star of Game 2. At the plate, he hit a two-run home run and had the walk-off hit during the seventh inning. On the mound, he struck out nine batters in a complete game victory.
“He had an excellent day. He had an excellent season,” Mission Veterans coach Casey Smith said of his left-handed pitcher and outfielder. “He’s been our horse on the mound. … And he’s a sophomore, so he’s coming back, and we’re excited about that.”
With the game tied at 1 during the third inning of Game 2, Vela drove a pitch over the right field wall for his first home run of the season. The Patriots stayed with a 3-1 lead until the top of the seventh inning. Vela walked a batter, and Gregory-Portland had consecutive two-out, run-scoring hits to tie the game at 3.
During the bottom of the seventh inning, the first three Patriots batters reached base to load them up for Vela. With the infield drawn in and the outfielders playing shallow, Vela lined a hit to left-centerfield to score Damian Soliz and force Game 3, which began a half-hour later.
“It’s just baseball, not everything is going to go your way,” Smith said of losing the 3-1 lead in the top of the seventh inning. “We came back and needed to score that run. We got a couple of guys on and we all came through.”
Eddie Falcon had a pair of hits in Game 2. His second hit led off the seventh inning before he was pulled for Soliz to pinch-run.
The Patriots carried the momentum into the deciding game. William Pena and Galvan had run-scoring singles during the second inning as Mission Veterans got out to a 2-0 lead. Vela’s RBI triple during the fourth inning gave the Patriots a 6-0 lead.
“We felt like we gave away Game 1,” Smith said about Thursday’s loss. “The second game we just came out and pounded them. … Our kids, after Game 2, they weren’t done. Their mentality was there. Their focus was there to come out in Game 3 and play.”
Christian Ramos pitched a complete-game, allowing five hits, striking out three and not allowing a runner past second base until Chris Alvarado scored the Wildcats’ only run during the seventh inning.
“We’ve got a lot of confidence in Christian,” Smith said of his Game 3 starting pitcher. “All he does is throw strikes. He changes speeds and he throws strikes. He did a great job keeping them off balance.”
Pena, right fielder Corbin Garza and center fielder Ruben Cavazos all scored a pair of runs in Game 3. Cavazos performed well in the leadoff spot Saturday, getting on base in five of eight plate appearances.
Mission Veterans shut out Roma 3-0 on the road in March. Roma lost 2-1 when it visited Mission Veterans in April.