Wildcats take game 3, 8-4, to clinch Reg. Quarterfinal trophy
The Littlefield Wildcats’ varsity baseball punched their ticket to the Class 3A Regional Semi-Final on Saturday with a game three victory over Tornillo, 8-4, in Monahans.
With the victory, the Wildcats improve to 21-8 overall on the season.
In the top of the first inning, Javier Ceballos grounded out to Jordan Trevino at shortstop for out number one. Oscar Reyes hit a chopper back at Blake Green on the mound, who ran it over to first himself for out number two, but Angel Santeilana singled over the glove of Trevino at shortstop to give Tornillo a base runner. Green would get the next batter, Noe Moreno, to ground out to Ethan Hackler at third base to retire the side.
Littlefield was unable to get anything going in the home half of the first inning, as Trevino and Green both flew out to left field for two outs. Chris Brown drew a walk, but Gus McNabb hit a chopper to Ceballos at second base, who got the out at first to end the inning.
Green gave up a lead-off walk to Rolando Ruvalcaba in the top of the second inning, but he got Victor Valenzuela to strike out swinging for out number. Jesus Delgado singled to center field and Derek Sanchez singled up the middle to load the bases for Tornillo. Jesse Gomez laid a sacrifice bunt down the first-base line and was tagged out in the base path by McNabb, but a run scored to put the Coyotes on top, 1-0.
Green got Ceballos to fly out to Turner Heffington in left field to retire the side.
Garcia got the Wildcat’s offense going in the bottom half of the second inning with a double to the right-field fence and Davin Saldana followed it up with a single to left field, moving Garcia over to third, as Joseph Salinas came on as the courtesy runner for the catcher.
Hackler roped a two-RBI double to right-center field to put the Wildcats in front, 2-1, and Jonavan Weaver kept the rally going with a single up the middle, moving Hackler over to third to put runners on the corners. Heffington hit a chopper over Gomez on the mound and the ball was missed by a charging Ceballos, allowing a run to score to make the score, 3-1.
Weaver and Heffington took third and second on a past ball, before Trevino hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score Weaver and make the score, 4-1, with one out. Green hit an RBI-single up the middle to extend their lead to, 5-1. Green took second on a balk by Gomez on the mound and Brown drew a walk to put runners on first and second for Littlefield.
Gomez was relieved on the mound by Santeilana and he got McNabb to ground into a fielder’s choice to Moreno at third base, who got the force at third for out number two. Garcia grounded out to Valenzuela at first base to end the inning.
In the top of the third inning, Reyes singled up the middle, but a few pitches later, he was caught stealing by Green, who stepped on the mound and ran at him, flipping the ball to McNabb at first, who slapped the tag on him for out number one. Santeilana grounded out to Salazar at second base for out number two, but Moreno doubled to right-center field to put a runner on for the Coyotes.
Ruvalcaba singled to left field, moving Moreno over to third, but Valenzuela grounded out to Trevino at shortstop to retire the side.
The Wildcats went three-up-and-three-down in the bottom of the third inning, and Green was able to keep the Coyotes quiet in the top of the fourth inning with the Wildcats leading, 5-1, heading into the home half of the fourth inning.
Heffington drew a lead-off walk to open the bottom of the fourth inning, but Trevino flew out to right field for out number one. Heffington took second on a pitch, before Green struck out swinging for out number two. Brown was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second for the Wildcats, but McNabb grounded out to shortstop to end the inning.
The Coyotes broke through in the top of the fifth as Reyes singled to left field to lead off the inning and Santeilana doubled to left field to put runners on second and third for Tornillo. Green balked to bring in a run, trimming the lead to, 5-2, and Moreno was hit by a pitch to put runners on the corners for the Coyotes, as Green was relieved on the mound by Brown.
Santeilana tried to score on a pat ball, but Saldana got a good bounce off of the backstop, as he flipped the ball to a waiting Brown at the plate for out number one. Ruvalcaba hit a chopper to Brown on the mound, who got the out at first for out number two and Brown got Valenzuela to strike out swinging to retire the side.
In the bottom half of the fifth inning, Garcia singled to right field to lead things off, but Saldana hit into a fielder’s choice to Moreno at third, who got the force out at second for out number one, as Salinas came on as the courtesy runner for the catcher. Hackler popped up to Moreno behind the mound for out number two.
Salinas took second on a pitch and Weaver hit a grounder to shortstop that was bobbled and the throw to first got by Valenzuela, allowing Salinas to score from second to make the score, 6-2. Heffington hit a chopper to Moreno at third, who got the out at first to end the inning.
Brown got the lead-off man, Delgado to ground out to Salazar to open the sixth inning, but gave up a walk to Sanchez, before he got Gomez to strike out swinging for out number two. He was relieved on the mound by Garcia, who got Ceballos to fly out to Heffington in left field to retire the side.
Trevino knocked a double into left field on a diving miss by the left fielder and Green followd it up with an RBIdouble to left-center field to stretch their lead to, 7-2. Brown struck out looking for out number one, but McNabb singled through the right side, moving Green over to third base.
Garcia hit an RBI-fielder’s choice to Ceballos at second base, who got the out at second for out number two, with the lead pushed out to, 8-2. Saldana grounded out to shortstop for the final out of the inning.
Garcia got the lead-off batter, Reyes, to strike out swinging to open the seventh inning, but Santeilana drew a walk to put a runner on for the Coyotes. Moreno hit a chopper up the middle, that was fielded by Trevino, but his throw was off the mark, putting runners on the corners for Tornillo. Ruvalcaba struck out swinging for out number two, but Ruvalcaba hit a two-RBI double to the right-center field fence to cut the lead to, 8-4.
Green relieved Garcia on the mound and got Reyes to fly out to Salazar in shallow center field to end the game, with the Wildcats taking the series, 2 game to 1, with an 8-4 victory in game three.
“I’m so proud of Blake Green; he hasn’t been on the mound in about a month in a half,” Mitch McNeese Head Coach said. “For him to come out and pitch a game like that; he is a competitor. He knew what he had to do and he told me after game two that he wanted this game. He already had it in his mind he wanted and he went and got it. Chris had 21 pitches and did his job, Ethan had 28 pitches and did his job and Blake came back in to get the last out, it was a group effort from the pitching staff. They did what they had to do and competed their butts off.”
He added, “It was something strange because we had been hitting the ball really well, so for us to get down in game two, but we came back today, had a good day of batting practice yesterday [Friday]. We found our stroke today, when you have that going it gets your confidence level up and we had a lot of energy in the dugout.”
Green started and finished the game for the Wildcats, pitching 4.1 innings, earning one strike out, while giving up just three walks and two runs. Brown came on in relief duty and pitched 1.2 innings, earning two strike outs, while giving up just one walk. And Garcia gave the Wildcats one inning, giving up two runs and one walk, while earning two punch outs.
The Wildcats will begin a three game series with the Brock Eagles on Thursday at Abilene Christian University. Game one will be Thursday at 7 p.m., game two will be Friday at 4 p.m. and game 3 (if needed) will be on Saturday at 3 p.m. or 6 p.m.