Bears bully, blank 'Cards in first game of bi-district series
SAN JUAN — The PSJA Bears are starting off their playoff slate on the right foot as they blanked the Harlingen Cardinals, 13-0, on Thursday in five innings.
The home squad is now 1-0 in a best-of-three series against the 'Cards in the bi-district round of the playoffs for Conference 6A Division II.
It was a bit of a slow start for both teams as neither was able to get on the board in the first inning.
The Bears though — who were the No. 1 team in the RGV in the regular season — aren't strangers to scoring as they averaged about 11 to 12 runs during district play.
In the second inning, PSJA put up a whopping 8 runs to get the gears going.
Matt Azuara got the Bears on the board as he had an RBI for the 1-0 lead. Afterward, James Cansino then made contact to rake in 2 RBI to bring it up to 3-0.
In the next sequence, JT Reyna — who pitched this game — cracked it to the back fence with a "thud" that can be heard in the parking lot. That earned him a 2-RBI double to increase the lead to 5-0.
The Bears weren't done there.
PSJA's Zeke Garza hit a pop fly to the outfield but a drop by the 'Cards allowed two runns to score. In the next sequence, Azuara shot it to left field for the RBI. Harlingen had more than a couple errors this game, in which PSJA took advantage.
At the top of the third, PSJA was up 8-0. Reyna pitched himself a solid inning with two strikeouts. The third out was due to a runner sagging off the bag at first base.
When it rains, it pours as PSJA's Nathan Peña launched it to left field for the 2-run homer that got the crowd off their feet and the Bears ran out the dugout to celebrate with their teammate.
Initially, Peña was just looking for a base hit, but as he adjusted quickly to what he was given, that earned him the play.
"I mean, he threw me an inside pitch and I turned on it," he said. "I really didn't think much — kept putting my head down, kept on running — that's kind of how I knew (it was a home run)."
Afterward, the bats remained hot for PSJA as Zeke Garza earned himself an RBI single to put the score at 11-0 going into the top of the fourth.
At the top of the fourth, PSJA's defense was solid to say the least. Reyna struck out the first batter. Harlingen did get a hit from Jayden Rodriguez, which was one of the few for the 'Cards. He was able to get to second base off a wild Reyna pitch when Kaleb Rangel was at-bat. Reyna struck out Rangel, and a hit to the outfield retired the 'Cards.
In the bottom of the fourth, Peña wasn't done as he launched another ball to the left field that earned him an RBI double after a dropped catch by the Harlingen defense. That made it 12-0. A sac pop fly by Cansino gave the Bears their 13th run of the night.
At the top of the fifth, it was three up, three down as Reyna struck out all batters to take the dub.
The game ended in the fifth inning due to the mercy rule.
Head Coach Marco Guajardo said that despite the slow start, the squad did a great job at capitalizing on the errors given to them by the 'Cards.
The Bears, despite having a near perfect record in district, were coming off a loss to La Joya that happened last Friday.
Asked if that game had anything to do with the performance, Guajardo said it was fuel for the team to improve their play.
"You know, we didn't play well (against La Joya)," the coach said. "It was kind of like a wake-up call. ... You know, we had just been cruising, cruising winning out games, and that loss kind of helped us, a little wake-up call."
The Bears will now play Friday over in Harlingen at 7 p.m. If a Game 3 is needed, it will be played Saturday at 1 p.m. back in San Juan.
"Game 2 (we got to) stay focused," Peña said. "We have to keep our heads down to work. The job's not done."