BY BRYAN RAMOS | STAFF WRITER
EDINBURG — The Sharyland Pioneer baseball program looks completely different than it did two years ago. The colors are the same, some of the faces remain, but the attitude and play on the diamond has elevated to a level the Diamondbacks had never been.
The Diamondbacks continued their hot start to the 2019 season Thursday as they went 2-0 on the first day of pool play in the ECISD All-American Classic at Edinburg Economedes by beating Edcouch-Elsa, 3-2, and Mission High, 7-1. Sharyland Pioneer is now 12-2 on the year.
Coach Casey Smith said his team didn’t get off to the best start in the morning against the Yellowjackets, but saw energy and effort to close out day one against the Eagles.
“I thought we did a real good job,” Smith said after his team’s 7-1 win. “We didn’t play real well in the morning and we talked about learning a lesson from it and just being consistent with our effort. We came out with pretty good effort and energy this game.”
Senior Jacob Rosales pitched a complete game as he struck out six, walked none and allowed just one run in five innings.
Mission High’s lone run came in the fourth inning off the bat of Ines Mendolia when a base hit brought in Steve Villarreal from second.
After giving up one run, Rosales proceeded to strike out three of the next four Mission batters to finish the game and improve his record to 3-1 on the mound.
“It motivated me because usually going into every game I set a goal for myself,” he said. “Me and coach Bickerton, we always say perfect game, perfect game, perfect game. I never know when it will happen, but that’s always the goal to strive for, so whenever I give up a hit or whenever I give up a run, that’s not something I like.”
Junior utility man and pitcher Evan Maldonado remained productive at the plate as a leadoff base hit in the third inning led to three Sharyland Pioneer runs. Maldonado was named the D-Bat 5A Hitter of the Week on March 5 after going 11 for 15 with one double, two triples, one homer, 15 RBIs, six runs and two stolen bases last week.
“It’s by playing tough, not wanting to lose and not giving up, battling through every at-bat,” the University of Houston commit said. “We have to have the mindset to step on everyone’s throat, beat everybody and that’s what we did today. We got our mental game right and did really good today.”
Even though Sharyland Pioneer has the look of one of the top teams in the Rio Grande Valley, Smith knows it’s a process day in and day out.
“I feel good about where we’re at, but there’s things we still need to polish up and get better at, and just continue to work at,” he said. “Baseball is a continual work in progress; soon as you think you’re good, somebody let’s you know you’re not so good, and you got to go back to the drawing board.”
Sharyland Pioneer will face Raymondville and Edinburg Economedes on day two of the ECISD All-American Classic tomorrow at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. at Edinburg Economedes High School.