Ruiz who opened the game on the mound, went 4 for 5 on the evening with three doubles. Vela went 2 for 5, Matthew Casillas went 2 for 4, Makayla Parks was an incredible 2 for 2 establishing herself as a fierce competitor as the only girl in the tournament, Drake Cantú went 1 for 3 and Jonathan Rodriguez went 1 for 3.
TJ Branch went 1 for 1 for Fort Smith.
Texas Tri-County defeated Saint Charles, Louisiana in the 2:00 O’clock game 11-5 with (my favorite name in the tourney) Scooter Evans going an amazing 4 for 5 on the afternoon with three hits and a double and four runs scored as you couldn’t stop him, you could only hope to contain him.
Bryant, Arkansas defeated Nederland 9-0 behind the pitching of Logan Grant who aided his cause with a base hit and a run scored in the fourth inning. Logan Chambers was 2 for 3 with three runs scored and lead-off man Jacob Coppock was 2 for 3.
Zack Deckert and Blaysin Fernandez were 1 for 2 for the Black and Gold with back-to-back singles in the second inning off Grant.
In the nightcap, it was Rey Mendoza who showed up for the Eagle Pass Stars dominating an impressive squad from Petal, Mississippi with 12 strikeouts in the game including the last batter he faced in the top of the seventh with an impressive fastball and a devastating change-up which kept the Panthers off balance.
Zach Lasseter came in strong for Mississippi, but Eagle Pass scored four big two-out runs in the fifth inning with hits by Braulio Rodriguez, Christian Del Bosque and Francisco Ballones who played an exceptional game at short.
The damage could’ve been greater, but amazing throws by Petal center-fielder Dylan Pylant and right fielder Hayden Shows.
Mendoza was 1 for 1 with three runs scored for Eagle Pass, Braulio Rodriguez was 1 for 2 and Christian Del Bosque, Francisco Ballones and Alex Martinez were 1 for 3.
For the Petal Panthers, shortstop Jessie Meeler was 1 for 3 with a single and two stolen bases and a run scored, Pylant had a double in the fourth, Garret West and Torah Hinton had singles in the second inning.
The victory set up a showdown that goes back in the day between Eagle Pass and Del Rio who were battling it out at press time.
Eagle Pass was up on DR 1-0 in the third with back -to-back singles by Alex Martinez and Mario Galvan.
Brandon Villaseñor was on the mound in relief of Braulio Rodriguez and had a great pickoff play to Ballones at second to stifle an early DR rally.
Results of this game were not available at press time.