(Edinburg, Texas)-The La Joya Coyotes (20-10-1) manhandled the Edinburg Vela Sabercats (24-9) on Thursday night 9-2 in the University Interscholastic League 6A Region IV Baseball Quarterfinals held at the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley Baseball Stadium in Game One of the Best-of-Three series. The Coyotes howled their way in the first two innings by scoring four runs to take a 4-0 lead for the next five innings while Texas Tech signee, JC Gutierrez kept the Vela Sabercats off balance with his eleven strikeout performance and allowed only three hits throughout the night. “We have to keep our bats strong tonight,” said La Joya head coach, Mario Flores. “It’s great to here at this round.”
Coyote HS shortstop, Alex Guarjardo led his team in the first inning, scoring his first run but it was teammate J.R. Ramos, who was hot behind the plate with three hits, two doubles, and scored four RBIs. In total, the Coyotes nailed the Sabercats for five doubles. From the start, Sabercats head coach, Jaime Perez said, “we have to play a great game tonight and cannot force any errors.” And then it happened, two throwing errors by Vela late in the game rallied the Coyotes to score five more runs in total. Throwing errors in the sixth inning by the Saberctas kept the Coyotes howling.
In the seventh inning, the Coyotes added two more runs after Vela relieved starting pitcher, Bobby Garcia with Martin Pena. Pena walked two batters allowed a base hit, including another double by Ramos down the left field line. He would be replace by Ethan Aguirre to finish out the game. Game Two is set for tonight at PSJA Southwest High School at 7:00 p.m. in the Best-of-Three series. The winner will play San Antonio Clark (23-9) or Austin Lake Travis (30-5-3) in the 6A Region IV Semifinals next week.
