By Charles Dee.
Hays High Rebel baseball continued to take advantage of strong pitching and opportunistic offense to down the Alamo Heights Mules 5-0 and 6-1 in last week’s district series. The Rebs, now 18-4 overall and 9-2 in district play, clinched their eighth straight playoff berth following a 7-0 win over Lehman on Tuesday.
The first game of the series at Rebel Field last Tuesday saw Tyler Woodmansee toss a three-hit gem to completely silence the Mule bats. In six innings, he struck out five and allowed only three base runners.
The Rebs took the lead early with Athen Schultz singling in the bottom of the first and scoring when David Riojas hard ground ball was misplayed by the Heights’ infield.
Zach Ibarra singled in third, moved to second on a bunt by Jose Cerda and scored on a Justin Diaz RBI single to left.
In the fourth, the Rebs parlayed a single by Devin Palm, a pair of bunts by Mike Gonzales and Schultz and Ibarra’s fly ball to deep left center to plate two and stretch the lead to four.
Cerda closed out the runs for the evening with a double and two wild pitches to secure the final tally. Reliever, Calvin Coker, shut off the Mules 1-2-3 in the seventh to preserve the shutout.
On Friday night in San Antonio the Rebs stayed consistent to the plan. With the game scoreless through two, Nate Scott set the table in the third with a single.
Palm, Gonzales, Schultz and Justin Montana cascaded a double, two bunt singles and a screaming line drive to left center to build a three run lead .
The Mules struck in the fourth for a run, but the Rebs answered in the fifth with Schultz, who had five hits and three stolen bases in the series, singling to left and Ibarra’s double setting the table for Riojas to drive in both runs with a single.
Schultz closed out the Rebs scorebook with another single, a stolen base and a run scored on Justin Montana’s single.
Sophomore Mike Gonzales sustained his recent pitching success with five strong innings, three strikeouts and scattering five hits. Gonzales won four straight while allowing a total of two runs and only nine hits in the four victories. Calvin Coker finished the Mules with two no-hit innings in relief.
The Rebels will face the Lehman Lobos in the series this week.
