BY SAUL BERRIOS-THOMAS | STAFF WRITER
ELSA — Game 1 of the best-of-three UIL Class 5A bi-district playoff series between the Edcouch-Elsa Yellow Jackets and the Sharyland High Rattlers was a pitchers’ duel from start to finish.
Junior Ben Rangel started for the Yellow Jackets and was the difference Thursday, going the distance with five strikeouts and five hits allowed to lead E-E to a 2-1 win.
Rangel was ready to go early Thursday morning. When he got to school, he stopped by to see his coaches, and he said to them, “Coach, I am ready to go, and I want to start the game already.”
When Rangel reached the mound to start the game, with his family in the stands to support him and his teammates behind him, Rangel’s confidence never faded.
“When I got out there, I felt good,” Rangel said. “My boys helped me get the momentum. The crowd was packed, all the noise. I was amped, and I was ready to pitch.”
Rangel moved his fastball in and out, keeping Sharyland hitters guessing all night.
“Ben is a workhorse. That kid has showed so much heart each and every day,” E-E coach Ryan Garza said. “Ben is playing his heart out right now, and we can’t ask any more of him.”
Sharyland’s starter, sophomore Andy Lozano, also pitched well. The youngster struggled a bit in the first, adjusting to the stakes and pressure in his first playoff game. But after one run came across in the bottom of the first, Lozano was like a boxer who tastes his own blood. He snapped to and started to deal.
Lozano went all six, striking out seven and walking just one, but the eight hits and two earned runs he allowed were the difference in the ballgame.
“He didn’t have his best stuff tonight,” Sharyland coach Barton Bickerton said. “But he did his job tonight. If he is only going to give up two runs, we expect to win that game.”
The Yellow Jackets loaded the bases to start the bottom of first inning, bringing senior third baseman Marin Rodriguez to the plate with no outs.
Lozano worked Rodriguez away, throwing a few curveballs early.
“I saw the ball all the way in, and I tired to get a dinger,” Rodriguez said. “I didn’t get enough on it, but it was the sac fly, and that was big for the team.”
Rangel notched three strikeouts in the top of the second, launching the battle between Rangel and Lozano for the next few innings.
Edcouch-Elsa scored the second run in the fourth, when sophomore right fielder Alex Noyola singled, advanced on a wild pitch, moved to third on a single and made a great read on a liner.
“That was huge. We tried to send the runner on a hit-and-run,” Garza said. “That sent the shortstop toward second. Alex did a good job of waiting first, and then taking off. He had a great read on that ball, and it worked out for us.”
Noyola’s run, which was driven in by sophomore center fielder Isaias Bocanegra, proved to be the difference in the game.
Game 2 is at 7 tonight at Sharyland High. The game has the potential to be another pitchers’ duel with senior Joseph Gonzalez scheduled to be on the bump for E-E and junior Ivan Alvarez penciled in for Sharyland. A site and time for Saturday’s Game 3 will be determined after tonight’s game, if needed.
“We are just lucky that it is a series,” Bickerton said. “None of these kids have ever been in a playoff game before. So, we had some guys jumping at pitches when they shouldn’t have (tonight), but they just needed to settle down.”
“We just have to finish it,” Garza said. “By no means is the series over. We know that they are very capable of coming back. They are a very good team. We just have to stay focused and play the next game as if we were home again.”