BY SCOTT HARRISON | SPECIAL TO THE MONITOR
PHARR — Corpus Christi Moody starting pitcher Marcus Cantu held the Valley View Tigers scoreless over the final six innings, tossing a complete game to help lead the Trojans to a 6-1 win in the opener of their Class 5A area round baseball series.
The Trojans starting pitcher is younger brother of Texas Longhorns catcher Michael Cantu, who attended the game to show support for his former school. The older Cantu was a 30th-round selection of the Chicago Cubs during the 2014 Major League Baseball draft.
“My team hit the ball really well, the defense was great, and the coaches did a great job of pitch calling, so we came out successful today,” Marcus Cantu said. “Valley View is a great team, and they are going to have a really good pitcher who will mostly likely pitch for them in the next game, so we will see.
The Valley View starting pitcher for Game 2 is expected to be Chezzare Gonzalez, who contributed a single while playing first base on Friday night. The Trojans are now 23-1 overall, while the Tigers are 21-7.
Moody was this season’ s champion in District 30-5A, and Valley View earned the runner-up spot in District 31-5A. Marcus Cantu improved his season record to 6-0, while Valley View starter Rogelio Arratia went 6 2/3 innings and drops to 7-2 overall this year.
The Trojans went ahead 2-0 in the first inning as the result of Roy Sandoval’s triple that drove home a run, and he eventually scored on a groundout by Nate Medina. Valley View answered with its only run in the bottom of the inning, when Ricardo Sanchez led off with a single, later advanced to third on a throwing error and came home on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Edilberto Reyes.
“We got the wrong the directions, so we got here late, but we don’t want to use that as an excuse,” Trojans coach Joe Curiel said. “We didn’t have the timely hitting early but came through in the end while Cantu pitched a heck of a game.”
Moody kept a 2-1 lead for the next three innings until Sandoval added his second run batted in with a single during the top of the fifth. Medina launched a solo home-run, his fourth of the season, over the right-field fence during the sixth inning.
“It was a duel of pitchers all the way until about the sixth inning, when things got out of hand,” Tigers manager Mario Gonzalez said through an interpreter. “Also, after the first inning, Arriatia got some confidence with his curveball, and it started having movement, but we could not help him with our bats. The difference was their lefties mostly got on base as they were hitting the ball well.”
Sandoval and Medina each picked up a third hit in the seventh inning as the Trojans added a pair of runs to seal the victory. Esteban Palomo got the final out for the Tigers after he replaced Arratia on the mound during the seventh inning.
“The curve was the key, but then I started making some mistakes,” Arriata said through an interpreter. “I started throwing my pitches up, and the Trojans took advantage of those mistakes.”
Sanchez reached base on his first three trips to the plate as the result of a pair of singles and a walk. The Tigers had one hit during each of the first five innings but could not capitalize again on the scoreboard after the opening frame.
The action shifts to Corpus Christi as Moody hosts the second day of the series starting at 5 p.m. Saturday at Cabaniss Field. If necessary, a third and deciding contest will begin 30 minutes after the conclusion of Game 2.