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Reliever Jason Chabarria picked up victories in both of Pecos' games on
Thursday. He went three innings in place of Moses Martinez in the opener
against Seminole -- and got two innings of relief help himself from
Jason Abila in an 8-6 victory -- then relieved Jason Aguilar in the
second game against the host Greenwood Rangers.
That came after four straight walks by Aguilar, and eight overall in 2¶
innings, had given the Rangers a 3-1 lead. Chabarria got David Curry for
the final out, then saw his teammates push across eight runs in the
bottom of the third inning, and add 13 more in the fourth for a 22-3
win, and a berth in tonight's tournament semifinal game.
Pecos will face the winner of this morning's Kermit-Abilene Wylie game,
at 8 p.m. The Yellowjackets defeated Alpine in their opener, 7-4, while
the Bulldogs, the defending tournament champs, routed Monahans by a 21-8
final score.
Cisco Rodriguez had nine RBI in the two games, including a two-run
double in the first inning against Seminole, and an inside-the-park
homer against Greenwood, past a diving Steve McFarden in centerfield. It
scored three runs in the 13-run fourth.
Eric Abila also had a good game at bat against the Rangers. He took the
first pitch of the game from Michael Otho down the line in left and over
the fence for his first homer of the year, then added a two-run single
in the third ad two-run double in the fourth.
The Eagles have now scored 53 runs in their last four games, while at
the same time having to rally from deficits of at least two runs each
time out.
"The kids feel like right now if they get behind they can come back,"
said Eagles' coach Bubba Williams. "We're hitting the ball and coming
from behind in every game.
Martinez, Jason Abila and Aguilar are the team's three returning
starters, and Abila is scheduled to pitch tonight's semifinal game. But
after three strong starts, including a 9-1 win last week over Greenwood,
Martinez was hit hard by Seminole Thursday morning. Aguilar, meanwhile
ran into control problems, as well as some other problems getting strike
calls from the home plate umpire in the third inning against the Rangers.
"Moses' leg is still hurting," Williams said of Martinez' problem. The
junior has bee bothered for two weeks by a bad leg, and had trouble
moving off the mound on Thursday, as Seminole took 4-2 and 5-3 leads.
Aguilar overcame seven walks against Reagan County last Friday to get
his first win of the season, but seven of his eight walks on Thursday
came with two outs, and led to all three Ranger runs.
An error by Richard Gutierrez at third and two walks were followed by
Curry's two-run single in the second, and in the third Aguilar left the
game after throwing 13 straight balls, though on at least a couple
catcher Mark Abila never had to move his glove.
"Jason's got good velocity. When he gets it down in the strike zone,
he's going to be tough," Williams said. "He'd get two outs, then walk
three or four batters in a row, and his concentration broke down."
Chabarria walked just one and allowed no runs in his 5¶ innings of
relief, though he did get tagged hard in the fifth by Greenwood. Frankie
Keller was thrown out by Lucio Florez and Nester Mendoza trying to
stretch a double off the fence in right into a triple, and McFarden then
who lined one off the pitcher's glove for a single.
"Jason came in and did a good job. They're going to hit, but we just
have to play defense behind him," said Williams. The defense did bail
Chabarria out in the fourth, as Mendoza and Jason Abila turned a double
play on Monty McGee after the Rangers put two on with none out.
Along with the homers by Eric Abila and Rodriguez, Richard Gutierrez had
five hits in the two games, including a triple and double in the win
over Seminole. Mendoza and Joseph Strain both had two run singles
against Greenwood and Mark Abila just missed a homer in the nightcap,
when his fourth inning shot hit just below the scoreboard in left-center
field.
Jason Abila will be seeking his second win in three decisions tonight,
while Pecos will be trying for their eighth win in nine games and a
berth in Saturday's 5:30 p.m. championship game. The loser will fall
into a 3 p.m. game Saturday in the double-elimination tourney, with the
winner there moving onto the title game.
The Eagles defeated Kermit two weeks ago by a 6-1 final score, while
Wylie last faced Pecos two years ago in the Midland tournament, when the
Bulldogs rallied from a 4-1 deficit to down the Eagles by a 7-4 score.
............................IP H R ER BB KO
Pecos
Martinez.................... 2 7 5 3 1 |1
Chabarria W, 1-0............ 3 2 0 0 1 |2
J. Abila (Save 1)........... 2 3 1 1 1 |4
Seminole
Cortez L, 1-1............... 7 9 8 5 0 |3
Martinez pitched to three batters in the third, Chabarria pitched to one
batter in the sixth
WP -- Cortez 2.
T -- 1:52.
GREENWOOD............................... PECOS
<at>
ab r h bi ab r h bi
Curry rf .....2 0 1 2 E.Abila rf 4 3 3 5
Valles lf .....2 0 0 0 Villnuva ph 1 0 1 1
Otho p-ss .....3 0 1 0 Florez cf 2 0 0 0
McG|3b|p|3b 3 0 0 0 J.Gutrrz dh 1 2 0 0
Pallanez 2b 3 0 0 0 R.Gutrrz 3b 4 2 3 0
Keller 1b .....3 1 1 0 J.Abila ss 2 3 2 1
McFrdn cf .....1 1 1 0 Strain 1b 3 3 2 2
Foster c ......1 1 0 0 M.Abila c 4 2 2 3
Reed c ..... 1 0 0 0 Rdrguz lf 3 3 2 5
Mdy ss-3b..... 0 0 0 0 Aguilar p 0 0 0 0
Morales p .....0 0 0 0 Muniz cr 0 0 0 0
Macias dh .....1 0 0 1 Chabarria p 3 2 1 0
.......... Mendoza 2b 2 2 1 2
.......... Campos ph 0 0 0 0
Totals 19 3 4 3 Totals 29 22 17 19
<xt>
Greenwood............. 0 2 1 0 0 --|3
Pecos................. 1 0 8 (13) x --22
E -- R. Gutierrez, McGee, J. Abila, Valles. DP -- Pecos 1. LOB --
Greenwood 9, Pecos 5. 2B -- J. Abila, Mendoza, E. Abila, Villanueva,
Keller. HR -- E. Abila (1), Rodriguez (1). SB -- J. Abila 2, R.
Gutierrez, Strain, Rodriguez, E. Abila, Florez, Mendoza, Reed. CS --
Florez (by Reed).
......................IP H R ER BB KO
Greenwood
Otho, L 1-1........... 2¶ 7 9 8 4 |2
McGee................. |_ 3 4 4 2 |0
Morales............... 1 7 9 9 3 |1
Pecos
J. Aguilar ............2¶ 1 3 1 8 |2
Chabarria W, 2-0...... 2_ 3 0 0 0 |1
McGee pitched to four batters in the fourth
Balk -- McGee.
WP -- Otho. PB -- Foster 3, Reed.
T -- 2:11.
The team was released Thursday, following the Sweetwater Mustangs' 71-58
loss to San Antonio Fox Tech in the Class 4A semifinals at the
University of Texas in Austin. The Mustangs, who won the 4-4A title with
an 11-1 record, put all five of their starters on the squad, including
the district's Most Valuable Player, Derrick Franklin.
Hinojos was named to the first team squad, after leading Pecos in
scoring at 13.5 points per game. The 6-3 post was one of five
non-seniors on the 12-man first team squad.
Abila was selected to the all-defensive team. The junior forward
averaged just under nine points per game, and his three steals in the
closing minutes against Fort Stockton last month allowed Pecos to close
out their home season with a victory, in a 2-10 overall year in 4-4A
play.
Franklin, a 6-3 forward, was one of the other juniors on the first team
squad, ad was joined by his Sweetwater teammates Robert Reed and Jason
Blueford, both seniors. Another senior, Shedrick Williams, was named to
the all-defensive squad, while junior Brett Bishop was named newcomer of
the year.
Andrews' Shaud Williams is younger than Bishop, but the district's
football MVP was named to the first team outright in basketball as well
at guard. He was joined by his teammate, senior post Michael Moore,
while junior forward Wayland Mayfield was named to the all-defensive
squad.
Andrews made the playoffs as the third place team. Second place Big
Spring had two players on the first team, in senior guard John Smith and
junior post Justin Myers, while junior forward Chad Warren was an
all-defensive pick.
Fort Stockton and San Angelo Lake View, which lost out for third to
Andrews, also had three players apiece on the team. The Panthers were
represented by senior forwards Josh Garcia and Stuart Robbins on the
first team and by senior guard Emilio Perales on the defensive unit.
Lake View junior post Jorge Villrreal and senior guard Lanze Velez were
the Chiefs' first team picks, while forward Richard Luna, a senior, was
named to the defensive squad.
Sweetwater coach Kenny Chandler was named 4-4A Coach of the Year, in
guiding his team to a 25-12 season record.
The two teams set a record for total points scored in a Class 4A
tournament game with 171 points, replacing the record of 164 set when
Lincoln beat Boerne 87-77 in 1990.
Lincoln (31-7), the state champions in 1990 and 1993, will play in
Saturday's title game against San Antonio Fox Tech (35-3), a 71-58
winner over Sweetwater in the other semifinal.
Wheatley, winner of five state titles, finished the season 22-10 after
making its ninth tournament appearance. The Wildcats were led by
Jermaine Lewis and Louis Golden with 18 points each.
After Nathan Bluitt missed two free throws with 14 seconds left,
Wheatley's Casey Pleasant lost control of the ball, but Lincoln knocked
it out of bounds with 2.9 seconds left. Houston's Emile White inbounded
the ball to Lewis, who appeared to be fouled by Bluitt before he fired
an unsuccessful 3-pointer as time expired. There was no call, and
Lincoln escaped with the victory.
In the other semifinal, Lenny Brown scored 18 of his 24 points in the
second half and ignited a key third-quarter run as San Antonio Fox Tech
defeated Sweetwater.
Fox Tech also got 25 points from star 6-foot-6 guard Robert Bell, a
Tulsa signee.
Sweetwater, led by Robert Ree with 17 points and nine rebounds, finished
the season 25-12 after making its second state tournament appearance.
Brown, who finished 10-of-21 from the field and had seven rebounds,
continued to lead Fox Tech in the fourth quarter with 12 points. After
Sweetwater pulled within 41-40 on a jumper by Shedrick Williams with
6:55 left, Brown answered with a 3-pointer and another layup off of a
steal in a 10-4 spurt that gave Fox Tech a 51-44 lead with 5:19 to play.
In the Class 3A semifinals, Dallas Madison outscored Kountze, 91-78, an
will face Tulia, 73-56 winers over Sinton, in the tournament finals.
In the Class A semifinals, Wortham and Nazareth will meet in the title
game, after Wortham's 65-61 win over Weatherford Brock and Nazareth's
58-51 victory over Moulton.
(Copyright 1997 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Fort Stockton and San Angelo Lake View are the only other 4-4A squads
scheduled to be in Odessa today ad Saturday, but the Class 4A field will
also include Canyon, Canyon Randall and Hereford out of District 1-4A,
District 2-4A power Lubbock Estacado and El Paso Bowie, El Paso Burges
and El Paso Parkland from District 3-4A. Artesia and Ruidoso, N.M. round
out the 11-team field.
The boys placed fourth at the season-opening Comanche Relays two weeks
ago and third last week at the Crane Relays. Distance races and field
events were the Eagles' strong point for the second week in a row, even
though coach Mike Ferrell altered his normal set-up for the Crane meet,
moving junior Billy Rodriguez and senior Mauricio Villescas into faster
races then they're normally entered in, in an effort to improve their
results later this year.
Rodriguez took the 800, his regular race, and was fifth in the 400
meters. On Saturday, he'll go up against Lake View's Jason Daniel, who
ran a 1:56 half-mile in San Antonio a week ago.
Villescas ran the 800 last week and placed second, instead of the 3200
meters, where he's a two time regional qualifier. He won the 3200 at
district last season, but finished behind the Chiefs' Justin Haby at the
Comanche Relays.
Senior Bryan Brownlee will also be trying for his third straight sweep
of the shot put and discus events. He broke the school mark in the shot
put two weeks ago, throwing 57-foot-1, and set records two straight
weeks in the discus, going 169-8 at Crane.
All field event finals except for the high jump and triple jump in Class
4A will run today, starting at 2:30 p.m., while running preliminaries
also start at 2:30, with the running finals set for Saturday, beginning
with the 3200 meters at 11:45 a.m.
Events in Snyder will get underway about 8:30 a.m., and coach Becky
Granado is hoping to see at least one of the two district teams that
weren't in Fort Stockton two weeks ago, in Sweetwater and Big Spring.
"When we went (to Snyder) two years ago Big Spring wasn't there.
Hopefully, Sweetwater will be," she said. No girls teams from 4-4A will
be at Odessa, so it's likely most of the Class 4A squads from the
Permian Basin ad South Plains will be in the Canyon Reef field.
Like the boys, the girls placed third at Crane and got the bulk on their
points in field events and distance races. "If we get good weather I
think we'll do better at Snyder," Granado said, after a cold front last
Saturday hampered running finals at the Crane Relays.
Games scheduled for Saturday, as well as those next Tuesday and
Saturday have been postponed until late March, Pecos Eagles' coach Patty
Hall said, because a number of boys and girls participating in the
Grades 2-6 league will be out of town during the week.
Any coaches who have problems with the games being rescheduled for late
March should contact Hall today or Friday at 447-7234 (PHS gym) or
447-7248 (Austin Elementary).
State and Regional Sports Pages--San Angelo Standard-Times
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Copyright 1997 by Pecos Enterprise
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