A.D. Ibarra

-San Antonio, TX

Believe it or not, in a shootout of epic proportions, the Eagle Pass Eagles had to resort to small ball to get the winning run over against a Mission Sharyland squad loaded with experience and sheer talent who came back from a three run deficit to take the lead in the 4th inning and Reynol Mendoza and his team had to find a way to manufacture two runs in the final frames to tie the game and send this thing into extra innings.  

This is how it all went down at Tejada Field of the Harlandale ISD, a park well known to the Eagle Pass Eagles.

The Eagles had six consecutive hits against Rattler star Tres Barrera who had definitely made his mark on this game hitting and driving in runs as well as taking the mound against his father's ex team.

The Rattlers had scored one in the first and three in the third to take a 4-1 lead against Devon Torres and the Eagle Pass Eagles but the wheels came off the cart in the third when Torres himself opened up the bottom of the third with a hit, then Diego Gaona followed suit with a single of his own.

Mando Lopez, the fabulous freshman who has come through against EP's most formidable opponents, came through with an RBI single with a good job of hitting according to Morris Libson as Lopez took an outside pitch, went with it and drove it into right, then Juan Lopez did the same.  Eagle second baseman RJ Ruiz also came through against Barrera with another RBI hit, then following another hit by Javy Cardona, Barrera was replaced by Pancho Martinez who proceeded to strikeout the next two Eagle hitters.  Martinez threw a gem of a game after this, as did Gilbert Villalobos in relief of Torres later in the game.  

Martinez pitched well, but not before big #19, Eric Gonzalez, wearing the number well and lighting up the scoreboard with a two RBI single to close out the Eagle rally of six runs on eight hits, as the Rattlers played relatively error-free ball throughout the game, but one costly error would be the difference in a later inning, and according to Eagle Pass Sports Central's Conrado Perez should have sealed the deal for the Eagles, but the dreaded walk came out to haunt Torres and the Eagles in the fourth when the Rattlers came across with five to answer the Eagles rally in the formidable, never-say-die manner they've been known for.

The Eagles come up empty against Martinez then in the top of the fifth, Villalobos gets him to ground out to Eric Gonzalez at short, then Jacoup Roiz snags a fly ball off the bat of Jorge Maldonado.  Tres Barrera lines out to Gonzalez for out number three.

Cardona would have a good at bat, taking Martinez to a full count before grounding out to Barrera at short.  Roiz grounds out to third and Villalobos grounds out to Barrera to end the inning.

Villalobos gets Luis Treviño swinging, then faced Jerry Esquivel who was 2 for 3 and drew a walk putting a runner on first, then Lance Madden gets on on a fielder's choice when Villalobos throws to Gonzalez for the second out, Madden steals second, but Gonzalez, who was playing hurt, came through and got the next batter at first for out number three.

The Eagles came up empty in the fifth, then in the sixth, Juan Lopez gets Mario Vela on the drag bunt attempt followed by a strikeout by Villalobos.  Then Pancho Martinez was first pitch hitting with a base hit to left, but Maldonado grounds out to short to end the inning.

Mando Lopez doubles to right to go 4 for 4 with the stand up double!  Juan Lopez earned his way on after getting hit in the head, Olexis Gutierrez comes in to run, then RJ Ruiz gets a bunt single that gets past Martinez to load up the bases with no outs. then the only error of the game for Sharyland came when Jacoup Roiz hits a grounder to the second baseman and Ruiz slides into the shortstop Barrera to break up the double play.  The errant throw that sails over the head of the first baseman allows two runs to score in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game!  Both the Sharyland coach and Barrera are ejected from the game for arguing interference on the play.

Villalobos hits Rudy Torres, the sub for Barrera, then the next batter grounds into a double play but the throw is low at first.

Madden grounds out to Villalobos and Venegas grounds out to Gonzalez for the third out.

In the bottom of the eighth, the gutsy Eric Gonzalez opens it up with a double, Alex Martinez comes in to run, Devon Torres bunts him to third, then the Rattlers intentionally walk both Gaona and Lopez, loading the bases when RJ Ruiz hits what seems to be a foul to right, but a balk on Martinez, who didn't stop in his windup, allows the winning run to score and the Eagles are en route to the Regional Semi Finals against San Antonio LBJ.