WESLACO — Harlingen South and Weslaco East entered Tuesday night tied atop the District 32-5A standings with 10-0 records in league play.
The Wildcats protected their home field and kept their perfect district record intact by defeating the Hawks 4-3 on Tuesday at Weslaco East High School to claim sole possession of first place in 32-5A. The Hawks (16-5, 10-1) and Wildcats (19-2, 11-0) will play Game 2 of their head-to-head series at 7 p.m. Thursday at Harlingen South High School.
“That was a great high school baseball game,” Weslaco East head coach Mike Brown said. “It was a great game between both teams. They made plays, we made plays. It just came down to who would get the upper edge at the end.”
“That was a really good baseball game,” Harlingen South head coach Bryan Aughney said. “… I’m really proud of our guys for fighting. We could have kind of tucked our head when we were down 4-1 against one of the better arms in the Valley in (Alex) Solis. He’s as good as advertised, but proud of our guys. We kept competing, and that’s all we can ask of them. Hopefully we can regroup and get back to it on Thursday.”
The Wildcats scored three runs during the bottom of the first on a bases-loaded hit by pitch and wild pitch and error that allowed two runs to cross the plate. East’s Tonio Balboa blasted his third home run of the season with a solo shot during the third for a 4-1 Wildcats lead.
South’s Desmond Cano led the game off with a walk and Daniel Lopez drove him in with an RBI single to center field.The Hawks made it a 4-3 game with a run on an error and a bases-loaded walk during the fourth.
Solis secured the win with seven strikeouts, allowing two earned runs off three hits and two walks in five innings.
Joseph Perez earned the save and protected East’s one-run lead by pitching scoreless sixth and seventh innings. He struck out two, giving up one hit and one walk.
“I knew Joseph could come in and do what he does. He’s a great pitcher, he’s a senior, he’s experienced and he’s hard to rattle,” Brown said. “He’s got great composure, and he came in and did a good job.”