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Tuesday, February 9, 2010 | Serving Del Rio and Val Verde County: Since 1929
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Tri-Counties wins South Texas State title
Published July 20, 2009
Del Rio’s hopes for a trip to the 16-18-year-old World Series will have to wait another year.
Tri-Counties outscored Del Rio 10-1 over the final four innings of play Sunday and captured the state title by the score of 14-7 in the Babe Ruth 16-18-year-old South Texas State Baseball Tournament.
Del Rio’s starting pitcher Danny Patiño held Tri-Counties in check for the first two innings as he allowed only base runner and no runs through the first seven batters he faced.
After a quiet first inning, Del Rio used the long ball to take the lead in the second.
Cesar Echavarria started things off with a one-out solo home run over the left field wall to put Del Rio up 1-0. Josue Aldrete followed Echavarria with a solo home run of his own, this one over the right centerfield wall, to give Del Rio a 2-0 advantage.
David Gomez’s single to left gave Del Rio three straight hits off Tri-Counties starter Garrett Huebner, but Huebner settled down and closed out the inning without surrendering any more runs.
Tri-Counties came back to take the lead in the top of the third.
Jacob Garlick led the inning off with a single, but Gomez threw him out trying to steal second base. Huebner was able to reach base when Del Rio first baseman Adrian Vasquez was unable to stop a throw from Jacob Valadez. Joe Tallerine was next up and he swung and missed at strike three, but the ball was ruled to have hit the dirt and Tallerine raced to first without a challenge from Del Rio.
Jennings Boothe drove in Tri-Counties’ first run with a single to left field. Tyler Arndt then hit a fly ball to left field. Del Rio’s Tino Pruneda had to make a running leap to snag the fly ball, and Tallerine tagged up from third base to score to tie the game at 2-2.
After a single to right centerfield by Ryan Hackemack, Kyle Mueller singled to centerfield to bring in Boothe and give Tri-Counties a 3-2 lead.
Tri-Counties’ lead last only a few batters into the bottom of the third.
Pruneda tied the game with a solo home run over the right centerfield wall. Then Jack Mayfield connected for a solo home run over the left field wall to put Del Rio up 4-3.
After Vasquez was retired on strikes for the second out, Echavarria was able to reach base on an error. Aldrete walked and Trent Popp replaced Huebner on the mound. Popp walked Gomez to load the bases, and then fired a wild pitch that hit near the top of the backstop and allowed Echavarria to score to make it 5-3.
Popp’s day was done when he walked Elias Cruz to load the bases. Popp was lifted for Arndt who then walked Patiño to force in Aldrete and give Del Rio a 6-3 lead. Tri-Counties was able to end the inning when Arndt got Valadez to fly out to left field for the third out.
Tri-Counties tied the game in the top of the fourth as Garlick, Jonathan Stavinhoa and Tallerine each reached base and scored. The big blow of the inning came on a two-run double by Boothe.
Patiño wouldn’t survive the inning as he was replaced by Carson Hill who was able to get the final two outs to end Tri-Counties’ at-bat.
Del Rio tried to answer in the bottom of the fourth as Pruneda led off with a double to left field and Mayfield walked to begin the Del Rio at-bat. But Vasquez went down on strikes, Echavarria hit a ground ball that forced Pruneda out at third and Aldrete struck out to end the threat.
Tri-Counties broke the game open in the top of the fifth, scoring five runs in the inning and taking an 11-6 lead. Two errors in the inning and back-to-back run-scoring doubles by Tallerine and Boothe helped Tri-Counties take a five-run lead and chase Hill. He was replaced by Gabriel Flores who eventually got the final two outs of the inning.
After setting Del Rio down in order in the bottom of the fifth, Tri-Counties tacked two more runs onto its lead to up the score to 13-6.
Arndt had an RBI double, but controversy followed his apparent score off a single by Hackemack. Hackemack hit a line drive off the left field wall. Pruneda was able to snag the hard shot and fired it to Valadez who threw to Cruz who then tagged Hackemack as he tried to stretch his hit into a double.
Meanwhile, Arndt had rounded third base but was trotting home as Hackemack tried to take second. When Hackemack was tagged out, it appeared that Arndt had not yet touched home plate. Despite protests from Del Rio’s coaches and players, the umpires counted the run.
Tri-Counties’ final run came in the top of the seventh inning as Thommy Ostert singled and scored on a double by Stavinhoa to make the score 14-6.
Del Rio’s final run came as Echavarria doubled and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Emitt Crisp. Cruz was able to single after that, but Robert Villarreal grounded out to first to end the game.
Tri-Counties’ championship roster included Tallerine, Boothe, Arndt, Hackemack, Mueller, Ostert, Drew Quinney, Garlick, Huebner, Stavinhoa, Chris Migl, Ross Goebel, Popp and Rich Cash Gonzalez.
Del Rio’s team included Valadez, Pruneda, Mayfield, Vasquez, Echavarria, Aldrete, Gomez, Cruz, Patiño, Beto Barrera, Crisp, Hill, Flores, Villarreal, Adrian Guajardo, and Frankie Martinez. The team was managed by Tony Reyes and coached by Al Flores and Efrain Cervantes.
Tri-Counties now advances to the Southwest Regional tournament that begins July 31 in Nederland, Texas.
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