Raiders out: Corpus Christi Vets proves to be too much in sweep
PHARR — The Eagles from Corpus Christi Veterans Memorial completed their area round sweep of the PSJA North Raiders by winning Game 2 on Friday, 7-1.
The first game was won by Corpus on Thursday by the score of 5-3. The Eagles will now face the Rouse Raiders in the regional semifinals.
PSJA North was looking to bounce back as this series was a rematch of last year's area round as the Eagles also swept the Raiders then.
It was a bit of a defensive sparring match in the first couple of innings as neither team was able to get on the board. Dyllan Cortez was keeping the Eagles at bay for PSJA North, while Jordan Garza — who is one of the best pitchers in the state — showed his prowess against the Raiders.
It wasn't until the top of the third where Corpus Christi Vets got aggressive at the plate.
Jaxon Cantu had a lead-off single to start it off in the inning. Afterward, Ryan Morgan got on base with a cracked ball that looked like it was going to go out of the park to put runners on second and third. It wasn't until Jonathan Reyes earned an RBI single to right field to get Cantu across home plate for the first score.
The Raiders looked as if they were going to recover as Cortez had back-to-back strikeouts later in the inning. However, the Eagles changed that quick as Trae Hernandez smacked it out of the park for a 3-run homer to dampen the Raiders' morale.
If you ever been to a Raiders' game, there's usually a crowd that brings the noise. So, when they're quiet, that's how you know things are going wrong.
Raiders at the bottom of the third couldn't get anything going.
At the top of the fourth, Eagles were leading 4-0.
Cortez was switched out at pitcher for Marcoantonio Alvarado. However, the troubles at the mound remained as Corpus Christi Vets' Julian Colsa raked in an RBI triple for the team's fifth run. In the next sequence, Cantu got an RBI single as another ball was dropped in the outfield to make it 6-0.
Alvarado tried to put out the fire with a strikeout but Garza hit a pop fly that the outfield couldn't quite get to it in time to make it 7-0.
The Eagles were quite keen on defense as their infield was probably the quickest that PSJA North has faced this year. Their pitcher, Garza — who was selected to the all-state roster and is a Dallas Baptist University commit — had himself seven strikeouts on the night.
PSJA North was able to get a lone score at the bottom of the sixth with Trae Barbosa's RBI single. But after that, it was pretty much all Corpus Christi Vets.
Despite the loss, Head Coach Antonio "Tony" Leal said his team put up a great fight against a tough pitcher in Garza but as well as a tough Corpus Christi squad that finished first in 29-5A with 31 wins on the season.
Leal gave his coaching staff props for the job they did in leading and helping the players get better.
"You know, we're like a family," he said. "We fight, everyone once in a while, but we always, at the end of the day, we always get along."
The head coach said that he has seven to eight starters returning next year and already knows what the team needs to work on.
"Kids, you know, are really, really strong. Right? And they're really good kids," he said. "And there's a bigger thing out there for them, right? That's what we're trying to teach them."
Senior shortstop and middle infielder, Daren Garcia, said that although coming up short, his team was "special."
"(They're) definitely brothers for life," the Alvin Community College commit said. "It's not just a baseball thing. It's a life thing.
"... We just carry our family, and that's one thing that was so special about this team, is the brotherhood and the family tradition that we carried."