By Charles Dee.
The Hays Rebel baseball team used strong pitching to win five straight and capture the Judson tournament championship over the weekend. Rebel pitchers allowed a total of only 13 hits and five earned runs in the victories.
Senior Tyler Woodmansee set the tone against Central Catholic, holding the Buttons to a single run and two hits in the Rebels 2-1 victory. The Rebels gave Woodmansee early support when Justin Diaz’s fly ball scored Mike Gonzales following his lead-off single in the first.
Woodmansee cruised, holding Central Catholic scoreless for five. Rebel offense pushed an insurance run across in the sixth using singles by Devin Palm and Athen Schultz to set up Mike Gonzales for an RBI single. Woodmansee (1-0) finished with seven strikeouts.
Senior Tyler Woodman-see and other Hays pitchers dominated over other teams in the tournament, as the Rebels took the championship at Judson.(Photo by Cyndy Slovak-Barton) |
Following Woodmansee’s example, junior Athen Schultz tossed his own two-hitter in the second game of the day to down SA Warren 5-0. Schultz struck out four, walked two and pitched his way out of a few jams to give the Rebel hitters time to break out the runs.
Tied 0-0 in the third, David Riojas scored on an error off Jose Cerda’s hard ground ball to put the Rebs ahead. The Rebs added insurance in the sixth and seventh using timely hits by Joe Rubio and a big home run by Riojas to ensure the victory.
On Friday, Rebel pitcher Trey Dickerson answered the challenge, hurling a one-hit shutout at Laredo United South to lead the Rebs to a 7-0 victory. Dickerson struck out five and benefited from an awakening Rebel offense led by Justin Diaz with two hits and David Riojas with three hits.
Doubles by Nate Scott, Ines Guerrero, Devin Palm and a triple by Schultz provided the RBI power to score five in the second and two in the third, giving Dickerson his first win of the year.
In the final game of pool play, The Rebs opened up the offense early and often against host Wagner for an 11-4 win to earn a championship spot. Gonzales and Riojas continued their hot streaks at the plate with three hits and two hits, respectively, to spark the Rebs to a 10 -1 lead after three innings.
On the mound, Gonzales teamed with Banner Steele to strike out six and limit Wagner to four runs, only two of them earned.
The Rebs, now 4-2 on the year, squared off with Cibolo Steele for the championship in a hard fought 10-5 victory. The Knights jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first. The Rebels countered in the second, using singles by Justin Montana, Gonzales, and Justin Diaz to even the score at four.
Riojas relieved Calvin Coker in the third and held Steele to only one more run as the Rebs went up 5-4 in the fifth and then added five more late to notch the victory.
The Rebs, now 5-2 on the year, return to action next weekend in the Seguin tournament and will then start district play at noon on March 11 at Lockhart.
