A.D. Ibarra

-Alice, TX

The Eagle Pass Eagles had to wait until midnight to begin their three-game series against the San Antonio Ladybird Johnson Jaguars Friday evening or Saturday morning in Alice.  Devon Torres pitched a complete game five-hitter, big Juan Lopez was a triple away from the cycle with a double, a home run and a single and catcher Diego Gaona hit another shot to dead center off of Jag starter Jared Vick to catapult the eagles to a one game lead in the 2013 Region IV Semis.

Let's go back to Thursday when Juan Lopez, Diego Gaona, Javy Cardona and Jacoup Roiz come on 24 Deportivo where they begin to visualize themselves being successful at the plate talking defence and distance as Lopez was asked to recall one of his dingers earlier this season and we remember Diego Gaona's massive HR against loop leading Laredo United against the wind at the EPISD Baseball Complex.  Jacoup Roiz recalled the play which tied the game vs Sharyland in the bottom of the 7th and Javy Cardona discussed his hitting performance on Friday which led to Coach Barton Bickerton pulling Tres Barrera.

Cut to Alice, Texas where we were forced to seek shelter from a storm system which was clearly evident on radars and dopplers across South Texas.  Game 1, initially scheduled to take place right here in the comfort of our very own home, but a decision was made at 1:30 PM when EPISD grounds crews informed A.D. Edward Graf that they would not be able to get our field ready to play on by 7:00 after 2" of rain fell 12 hours earlier.

The availability of the stadium in Alice compounded by the fact that in Alice, they have a tarp to cover the infield in case of rain, the Eagles and and a good contingent of fans followed each other to the Rio Grande Valley.

This is how it all went down in Game 1.

KINL's Ruben Valadez, shortly after the game began, referred to this game as the "insomnia Special" as the rains came down in Alice and crews worked on the field and impeccably got the field ready for play.  Eagle Pass' Devon Torres rose to the challenge of a big game by striking out leadoff hitter Vic Mireles, gave up a double to Connor Mitchell, but got out of the inning by getting Mark Whitehead to pop up to right and Tanner Whol to ground out to #19 Eric Gonzalez.

What we saw in the Eagle Pass Eagles was a formidable offensive scoring machine firing on all cylinders as Eric Gonzalez threatened to score in the very first inning when he drew a leadoff walk, Torres bunted him over and Gaona sacrificed him to third, but starter Jared Vick was able to do what Sharyland couldn't, get big Mando Lopez out as Lopez grounded out to third base.

Torres proceeded to strike out the side getting Randy Stewart, Jared Vick and Zack Hamel.

What would happen next would reaffirm my previous statement in reference to the aggressive nature of taking advantage of performing in the face of adversity on the biggest of stages with a berth in the State Tournament on the line.

Juan Lopez doubles to right center field with a line drive over the second baseman, Javy Cardona base hits to right and the Jag right fielder throws an absolute strike to catcher Alex Hernandez.  The pitcher looked as if he was going to cut it off, but the ball falls right in Hernandez' glove, but a hard slide by Lopez jars the ball lose, 1-0 EP.  Jacoup Roiz base hits to left and Kevin Chisum hits a grounder to the second base side where they get Roiz, but a bad throw to first allows Chisum to get on.  Kevin steals second on a very alert jump, then Eric Gonzalez comes through with a double goes to third on another errant throw and ends up scoring on the three RBI hit scoring Cardona, Chisum and Gonzalez.

Zach Smith grounds out to Ruiz at second in a bang bang play and gets up arguing.  Smith would be ejected from the game.  Mando Lopez would then make a sliding catch on a pop up by Tanner Scarborough, the ex McAllister All-Star who was the star of the Little League World Series and even had a Krispy Kreme named after his nickname "Scary."  Lopez would influence the next play as well as Torres gets Nick Mireles to go down swinging, but Gaona drops the ball and throws to Ruiz covering first and Mireles runs in to a brick wall in Mando Lopez for out number three.

Juan Lopez would take a Jared Vick fastball in the bottom of the third, and put it on the other side of the fence as the Eagle slugger made it 5-0 with his shot to left.

In the top of the fourth, Connor gesell the son of Head Coach Gordy Gesell, who Eagle Pass Sports Central's Conrad Perez told us he played against in the famous Spanish American Baseball League, opens the fourth with a hit and goes to second on a passed ball then a base hit by Mark Whitehead to center would've scored Gesell, but an awesome throw from Kevin Chisum causes the Jag coach to hold the runner at third.  Gaona's snap throw gets away from Gonzalez, but RJ Ruiz alertly covers.  An overall great display of fundamental baseball.

Tanner Whol falls victim to a great pitch by Torres and a better block by Gaona for the first out on a cutting fastball moving away from the left hander.  Torres gets Randy Stewart to ground out to Ruiz allowing one run to score, but Devon would get Jared Vick swinging for his sixth strikeout of the game to end the inning.  Torres gets out of the inning allowing only one run and striking out two.

Diego Gaona would hit a massive home run to center field which according to Moris Libson Jr. was approximately 435 Ft. then Mando Lopez base hits to left and Olexis Gutierrez comes in to run.  Juan Lopez gets yet another hit scoring the swift Gutierrez all the way from first to put the Eagles up 7-2.

Torres would get out of the next inning after Mark whitehead get on on a drag bunt and goes to second on a bad throw when Tanner Whol grounds out to Lopez at first and Whitehead moves to third and scores on a fly to center by Randy Stewart, nut Devon had Vick's number and rung him up again for out number three.

The Eagles faced a new pitcher in the sixth, but Jacoup Roiz would draw a walk, as would pinch hitter Jack Acuña and Fernando Garza would come in to run when Eric Gonzalez would walk, then Diego Gaona base hits and brings in two, then Juan Lopez walks and RJ Ruiz base hits the winning runs in for the Eagles to take the Game 1 victory 13-3!

For Eagle Pass it was 13 runs on 13 hits and one error.  For the Jaguars it was three runs on four hits and four big errors.

The two teams squared off on Saturday, but results were not available at press time although it began to rain again in Alice on Saturday morning.