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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Friday, April 18, 2003
Eagles take over third by downing Panthers
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
They're not back to the .500 mark yet in the District 4-3A baseball standings,
but the Pecos Eagles are back in third place. Now the next two games will
determine if they deserve to stay there.
The Eagles improved to 3-4 in district play with their second straight
victory, an 8-5 comeback win Thursday night in Fort Stockton over the Panthers.
Meanwhile, the next two teams Pecos plays, Monahans and Greenwood, helped
both themselves and the Eagles on Thursday, as each team clinched playoff
spots with wins over Kermit and Presidio.
That put the Eagles a half game in front of the Yellowjackets and Blue
Devils in the race for the third place playoff berth going into their 2 p.m.
make-up game on Saturday at home against Monahans. They then host Greenwood
on Tuesday before taking a week off prior to their final regular season
game, on April 29 at Presidio.
"We're in the position where we control our own fate," said coach Elias
Payan. "If we take care of business we don't have to worry about anybody
else."
The Eagles, who had to rally from 4-0 and 5-1 deficits a week ago to
defeat Kermit to stay in the playoff picture, had to come back from 3-0 and
5-3 holes on Thursday against the Panthers, who also needed a win to stay
in the playoff race.
Barney Rodriguez, who has had first inning problems all season, had some
more in Thursday's games. He gave up a leadoff triple to Jeremy Velasquez
in the bottom of the first inning, then failed to cover first base on a
Chance Bruno grounder to Rigo Ramirez, allowing him to reach first as Velasquez
scored.
Bruno then scored all the way from first base on Isai Rojas' single to
right-center field with one out, and Rojas would come all the way around
when Angel Marquez' single to left got through Javier Ramirez's legs for
a two-base error.
After that, Pecos' defense tightened up, committing only one more error,
a bad throw by Rodriguez on a slow bouncer to the right of the mound by
Marquez in the sixth inning, though they did get a break in the third, when
center fielder Oscar Parada misjudged Terrance Ellis' fly ball into a double
just before Rojas lined a home run over the fence in right field.
That put the Panthers back in front after Pecos had scored twice in the
second inning and once in the top of the third off Bruno. Parada walked,
stole second and scored on a single by Rodriguez to open the second, and
after a walk to Matthew Levario, Rodriguez broke for third as catcher R.J.
Bernal tried to pick him off second on a strikeout of Freddy Torres. The
ball ended up in center field and Rodriguez ended up scoring.
Levario would later be doubled off second on a Javier Ramirez fly ball
to end the inning, and the Eagles would then get Victor Reyes picked off
second with one out in the third. But Jose Reyes followed with a double
off the fence in left, went to third when Bruno's pickoff attempt sailed
into center, and scored as Rigo Ramirez beat out an infield grounder to
Velasquez at second base.
Pecos tied the game in their next at-bat. Rodriguez led off with a double,
then scored on Torres' one-out single, and he scored on a passed ball by
Bernal, following a two-out hit by Ruvel Carrasco. They then took a 6-5
lead in the sixth when Parada doubled off the glove of a diving Alfredo
Agreaba in left field, and scored on Levario's two-out single to left.
Levario would drive in his third run of the game in the top of the seventh,
after Parada made it 7-5 with his second double of the night, off Ellis,
who had come on to relieve Bruno when he walked Jose Reyes and Rigo Ramirez
on eight pitches to open the inning. Reyes scored on the hit, and after
Rodriguez grounded to shortstop, Levario was able to put down a suicide
squeeze bunt just in front of home plate, as Ramirez came home to give Pecos
a three-run lead.
"When you're down two runs, anything can happen," Payan said. "Matthew
was the perfect guy up there to run the play, and I knew he'd get the job
done."
Rodriguez would hit Julio Pacheco with a pitch and give up a single to
Quito Vargas in the seventh, but in-between Carrasco threw out Pacheco trying
to steal second, and Rodriguez then struck out Velasquez and Bruno to end
the game.
Rodriguez ended up with 10 strikeouts while allowing seven hits, and got
help from all his infielders, with Levario getting Ellis on an infield bouncer
to end the fifth inning after Reyes and Zo Serrano were able to throw out
runners in the two previous innings after knocking down hard line drives.
"We learned from the first half," Payan said. "In the first half we probably
would have taken it from the side and it would have gone through. Tonight,
we stayed with it, fielded the ball and got the out. That's what we teach
them."
The win improved Pecos' season record to 15-9 going into their game on
Saturday against Monahans, which edged Kermit at home by a 3-2 score Thursday
night. The Loboes and Eagles have split four games so far in 2003, but Monahans
won the teams' district meeting, jumping out to 8-0 and 9-2 leads, then
holding off a seventh inning rally by Pecos to win, 9-8.
Josh Anchondo, who shut down the Loboes over the final two innings in
that game, is scheduled to get the start on Saturday, while Dimas Porras,
who got the save that night, while beating the Eagles, 5-2 and losing 3-2,
should be the starter for Monahans.
Pecos 0 2 1 2 1 0 2 8 10 2
Ft. Stockton 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 5 7 3
Rodriguez and Carrasco. Bruno, Ellis (7) and Bernal. W - Rodriguez (5-6).
L - Bruno. E - Pec, J. Ramirez, Rodriguez. FtS, Bernal 2, Bruno. DP - Ft.
Stockton 1. LOB - Pecos 5, Ft. Stockton 3. 2B - Pec., J. Reyes, Rodriguez,
Parada 2. FtS, Ellis. 3B - FtS, Velasquez. HR - FtS, Rojas. S - Pec., Levario.
SB - Pec., Parada, Rodriguez. CS - FtS, Pacheco. HBP - FtS, Bernal, Pacheco.
PB - FtS, Bernal.
Eagle golfers to begin I-3A regional play
No Andrews. No Granbury. No Southlake Carroll.
That means the Pecos Eagle girls' golf team has an easier path to the
state golf tournament than they've had to deal with for the past four seasons.
But that doesn't mean the Eagles will have a clear path to state when the
teams tee off on Monday at the Nueva Vista Golf Course in Midland.
Pecos' girls will play on Monday and Tuesday in Midland, while the Eagle
boys will be over at Ratliff Ranch in Odessa for the two rounds of their
Region I-3A tournament, with Pecos needing to make up ground on district
rival Monahans and four other teams, based on district tournament results.
The girls have finished fourth or fifth the past few seasons at the Region
I-4A Tournament in San Angelo. Dropping down to Class 3A this year rid the
Eagles of three of their main rivals. However, the Snyder Tigers, who placed
second to Andrews at regionals a year ago, also dropped from 4A to 3A this
year.
Based on their average scores in district play, Pecos and Snyder are
tied for No. 1 seeds going into Monday's opening round. But only one stroke
back are the Breckenridge Buckaroos, who figure to be the main challengers
to the Eagles and Tigers in Midland next week.
"Snyder and us are tied at 318 and Breckenridge is at 319," said Eagles'
coach Tina Hendrick said. "They've got that one girl (Camille Blackerby)
who had some real low scores, but other than that, I don't know anything
about them."
Blackerby averaged 67 in her district tournament, the best among any
teams at regionals. Pecos' Lauren Martinez, with a 74 average, is second.
As far as the other teams go, Hendrick said, "Monahans is the fourth
place team." The Eagles finished 75 shots ahead of the Loboes in the final
district standings. A total of 16 teams will compete at the regional tournament.
Monahans' boys finished 54 strokes ahead of Pecos in their District 4-3A
Tournament, and go in to regionals seeded second behind Snyder, with a 298
average to the Tigers' 296. Pecos averaged 316 for their three rounds of
district play.
"We're seeded sixth," coach Kim Anderson said. "But if our kids will
go out and play at the level they're capable of, we can get up there and
compete with Monahans."
Sal Nichols and Michael Nichols averaged 76 and 77 in district play,
but the Eagles' other golfers will also have to get their scores into the
mid-70s to give Pecos a chance at a trip to state. This is the Eagles' fifth
straight year to advance to regionals, with their highest finish the previous
four seasons in Class 4A a 13th place last April in San Angelo.
The three other teams seeded ahead of Pecos going into regional play
also are out of West Texas - District 2-3A champ Slaton, which averaged
303 in their district tournament, and Seminole, which placed second to Snyder
in District 3-3A with a 314 average, and Perryton, which averaged 315 while
winning the District 1-3A title. Graham and Abilene Wylie are just behind
Pecos with 318 and 319 district averages.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
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Copyright 2003 by Pecos Enterprise
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