By Charles Dee.
The Hays Rebel baseball team, following an impressive Judson tourney championship, claimed a second tournament title by sweeping the competition in the Seguin Invitational over the weekend.
The Rebels’ four game run began with a 7-0 victory over perennial rival, the San Marcos Rattlers. Once again the Rebels leaned on the reliable arm of senior Tyler Woodmansee (2-0) to set the stage. Woodmansee scattered three hits around six strikeouts to hold the Rattlers scoreless through five. Reliever David Riojas slammed the door in the final two, allowing no Rattler base runners and striking out three.
The Rebel hitters broke open a scoreless game in the fifth, using a trio of walks to Devin Palm, Athen Schultz and Justin Montana to fuel RBIs from Zach Ibarra’s double, and Nate Scott’s and David Riojas’ singles to score five in the inning. Jose Cerda’s double in the sixth plated Schultz and Montana to complete the Rebel scoring.
In the second game, Rebs’ promising young pitcher, Trey Dickerson, faced down the ever-tough N.B. Canyon Cougars, 9-4, to run the Rebels season record to 7-2. In a seesaw contest, Dickerson struck out nine and held the potent Canyon offense to only seven hits.
The Rebs broke to an early lead in the second when Scott, Palm and Joe Rubio loaded the bases with singles and used an error and a passed ball to score two before a force out at the plate quelled the rally. Canyon chipped away and led by one in the fourth. The Rebels fought back when singles by Rubio, Montana, and Ibarra keyed a three run inning to go up 5-3. The Rebs kept the pressure on by scoring two in the fifth and the icing the game with two in the sixth for the final tally.
As sometimes happens, the luck of the draw rematched the Rebels against the Cougars in the pivotal third game. In another hard fought contest, the Rebels rode the limber left arm of Sophomore Mike Gonzales to a 2-0 victory. Gonzales struck out six, yielded only three hits and never allowed the Coogs to threaten in his complete game effort.
The Rebs got all of the offense needed in the fourth on a leadoff home run by Ibarra. Calvin Coker followed with a single in the same inning and scored on a Canyon error.
In the fourth game of the rain-shortened tourney, the Rebs overpowered the Burnet Bulldogs 15-2. After spotting the Bulldogs a pair of runs in the top of the first, the Rebs exploded for three in the first, 11 in the second and a final tally in the third.
Reliever Athen Schultz (2-0) earned the victory with 3 1/3 shut-out innings.
Having won nine straight, the Rebels are now 9-2 on the year.
Coach David Null said, “We went into each tournament with specific goals for improvement to prepare for district play and I think we’ve made positive strides in that preparation; our pitching has solidified, our hitting is coming around and we got some important contributions from several kids new to varsity baseball.”
Hays opened district play on Tuesday in Lockhart.
