Hondo Anvil Herald

Goliad advances after game 3 domination

 

     Freer -- With the area baseball playoff series even at a game apiece, everything came down to Saturday afternoon, May 9.

And Saturday afternoon went decidedly in favor of the Goliad Tigers.

     After Hondo’s 7-4 Thursday, May 7, win, and the Tigers’ 5-2 victory on Friday, May 8, Goliad came out swinging, pounding out 10 hits – including a two-run homer in the third and a grand slam in the sixth – to claim a 12-0 win in the series finale at Freer High School.

Hondo concludes its season at 23-9-2, while Goliad (25-9) has already begun a 3A-Division 1 regional semifinal series against Corpus Christi London.

     In the Thursday series opener, Goliad scored the game’s first run in the top of the second inning. The Owls matched it in the bottom of the inning as Rudy Alvarado was hit by a pitch and eventually scored on a passed ball.

     The Owls began to pull away in the bottom of the fourth. Joby Pimentel and Anthony Garza both singled on either side of a Kolten Alvarez walk. Layton Pope drove in two runs on a single to right and Hondo led, 3-1.

     Hondo put up four runs in the fifth. Alvarado reached base on an error, Jaxson Williams and Pimentel both singled. A walk and a hit batter added another run, loading the bases once again for Pope, who lined a single to center to make it 6-1. Alvarez then scored on Josiah Quintanilla’s groundout.

     The Tigers put together a two-out rally in the top of the sixth, scoring three runs, but in the seventh, Derek Elizondo put the finishing touches on his complete game, retiring the side in order, as the Owls picked up their 23rd win of the season.

On Friday, Hondo was limited to just two hits, scoring single runs in the third and seventh innings, while Goliad put up five in the middle frames.

     In the second inning, the Owls loaded the bases with no one out, but the Tigers got out of the big jam on a chopper back to the pitcher, who came home for one out, before the relay throw to first finished the double play. Quintanilla then scored on a wild pitch, giving Hondo a brief 1-0 lead.

     After Goliad had scored the next five runs, including a two-run homer in the sixth, Hondo got its final run when Garza singled to left, scoring pinch runner Jack Gruber.

      Saturday afternoon, the Tigers were in control the whole way. The Owls’ only hit of the day came on a one-out liner up the middle by Alvarado.

     Hondo has advanced out of the bi-district round of the baseball playoffs for the past seven years, but each year has been stopped at area.

     Elsewhere in District 28-3A, Lytle remains alive after sweeping Poth, 7-0 and 8-6 on Thursday and Friday. Lytle (28-6) will face Orange Grove in a three-game region semifinal series in Kenedy, starting Thursday, May 14.