By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
Porter pitcher Jose Perez was in a groove against Pace.
Perez went the distance and struck out 13, and the Cowboys scored four runs during the first inning of a the 13-2 win over the Vikings in District 32-5A baseball action Friday.
“It feels good,” he said. “When I’m on the mound I have to do my best for my team to win. And that’s what I did today.”
Perez pitched a complete game, allowed two runs on two hits, walked two and struck out a baker’s dozen for the Cowboys.
“He had complete control since the first inning,” Porter coach Barton Bickerton said. “Once we got up 4-0, he knows his job is to just go out and throw strikes and he did a great job of doing that.”
Porter got on the board quickly during the first inning. After Perez and Miguel Deleon hit back-to-back singles, Perez scored when John Ross reached on an error and Deleon scored on a throwing error. Ross scored on a fielder’s choice by Jesus Torres, and Torres later scored on another throwing error by the Vikings to give the Cowboys a 4-0 lead.
“We’ve been trying to (get the bats going) a lot and we haven’t done it, except for the last couple games we’ve jumped on a couple teams early,” Bickerton said. “You always want to do that, so it was nice. We put the ball on the ground, they threw it around in the first inning and we got four runs, so it was a great start.”
Porter added another run during the second inning when Ross singled to right to give the Cowboys a 5-0 advantage.
After a pair of scoreless innings, the Cowboys added another run. After Chris Munoz reached on an error, Jose Rodriguez delivered a single to give Porter a 6-0 lead.
During the sixth, Perez hit a one-out RBI single and Deleon followed with a double to add another run and knock out Pace starter Rigo Rubio. The Cowboys added another run on a based-loaded walk to take a 9-0 advantage.
Rubio pitched 6 1/3 innings, allowed eight runs on 10 hits, walked two and struck out six.
Pace got on the board during the sixth inning. Alonso Reyna broke up a no-hit bid by Perez with a bloop single to score a run. Mario Andrade followed with a double to left to score Reyna and cut the deficit to 9-2.
Although the Vikings got to Perez late, he kept Pace off-balance all evening.
“We struggle with left-handed pitching,” Pace coach Ruben Aynes said. “And it takes a very disciplined ballclub to hit left-handed pitchers.”
The Cowboys added a sacrifice fly, a two-run single by Torres and a RBI double by Munoz during the seventh inning. Perez finished off his night by striking out the side — the third such inning he did that on the night — to seal the victory for Porter.
The Vikings’ coach said his team just didn’t make plays.
“Hat’s off to them, they’re a great team,” Aynes said. “They hit the ball well, they put pressure on us. And bottom line, we didn’t get the job done.”
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.