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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Friday, February 22, 2002
Eagles teams face Loboes, Bucks squads
The Pecos Eagles and Monahans Loboes have made a tradition of their two-game
season openers to the high school baseball season, in the six years since
the Eagles and Loboes were moved out of the same district.
Pecos and Monahans will be back together as members of District 4-3A next
year, so this will be the final season the teams will face each other to
kick of varsity baseball play, starting tonight, when the Eagles travel to
Monahans to face the Loboes in a 7 p.m. game.
On Saturday, Pecos will play its home opener against Monahans, in a 1
p.m. start. Coach Bubba Williams said it would be the only game of the day,
after Monahans said most of its JV players would be participating in Saturday's
Sandhills Relays. The JV teams will play before tonight's varsity game in
Monahans, starting at 5 p.m.
Meanwhile, Pecos' girls' softball team will play their home opener at
5 p.m. today against the Alpine Bucks, after opening their season last weekend
at the Andrews Tournament.
The Eagles and Loboes actually have been face each other more in recent
years, even though they haven't been district rivals since 1996. "We played
Monahans last year five times. They went to the regional semifinals last
year and we beat them five times _ we only lost that first meeting with them,"
Williams said. "They've got most of their players back and we've got most
of ours, so it should be a good game."
Pecos ended up falling in the area round of the Class 4A playoffs to Canyon,
which handed Barney Rodriguez his only loss of the season. He got his first
win a year ago against Monahans after missing the first couple of weeks of
the season, and will start on the mound tonight against the Loboes.
"We've got to go out and play good defense behind Barney. He's not pitching
at the pace he was last season right now, but he's going to come through
for us," Williams said, after Rodriguez had a rough first inning on the mound
against Presidio in a Feb. 12 scrimmage.
While Pecos started last season without Rodriguez, they'll begin this
year without another pitcher, Capi Magana. Richard Rodriguez will start Saturday's
game on the mound, Williams said.
"Capi and Richard threw pretty good against Odessa High (in last Saturday's
scrimmage), but we haven't been hitting the ball like I feel we will," Williams
said. "That will come, and I think their pitching had something to do with
that."
Williams said the Eagles would have a couple of changes in their line-up
on defense tonight from last season. Rodriguez will be at shortstop while
Lorenzo Serrano will start at second base, and Rigo Ramirez will move in
from center field to play first base and will be replaced out there by Oscar
Parada. Freddie Torres will be the other new player for Pecos, in left field,
while catcher Mason Abila, third baseman Matthew Levario and right fielder
David Elkins return for Pecos.
With Rodriguez pitching on Saturday, Williams said, "I'll have to make
a few changes. Matthew will move over to shortstop and Oscar will come in
to play third. Rigo will go back to center and Barney will play first base."
While the Eagles play in Monahans tonight, Pecos' girls will be at home
against Alpine. The Eagles and Bucks were scheduled to start the season against
each other on Feb. 12, but that game was canceled after Alpine advanced to
the area round of the Class 3A basketball playoffs.
Pecos opened its 2002 season last weekend by going 2-3 at Andrews, losing
close games to Midland Trinity, El Paso Eastwood and Lubbock Coronado while
winning a couple of close games over Denver City and Lubbock High. They were
scheduled to play their home opener on Tuesday against Fort Stockton, but
that game was canceled due to TAAS testing.
Pecos Jr. Relays, Sandhills open track seasons
The Pecos Eagles' junior high track teams will get a one-day jump on the
varsity squads in opening their 2002 seasons, when Pecos hosts six other
teams today in the West of the Pecos Junior Relays.
Events will begin at 4 p.m. and run through the evening at Eagle Stadium
for the seventh and eighth grade boys and girls. Pecos' high school teams
will start their seasons on Saturday, with the Sandhills Relays in Monahans,
and will close out regular season competition in April at Eagle Stadium with
the District 2-4A track meet.
Coach Jose Gonzales said along with the Eagles, Monahans, Fort Stockton,
Presidio, Crane, Buena Vista and Van Horn would have teams entered in today's
junior high meet. The events will begin with the girls running finals and
the boys field events at 4 p.m. Around 6:30 p.m., the boys will begin their
running finals, while the girls' field events will start.
Gonzales said about 45 boys and 35 girls in seventh and eighth grades
are participating in track this season for Pecos. Last season, Fort Stockton
won the seventh grade division at the West of the Pecos Junior Relays, while
Monahans took the boys title in eighth grade and both of the girls' divisions.
The Sandhills Relays in Monahans will feature the host Loboes, along with
Big Spring, Fort Stockton, Midland Greenwood, Alpine, Crane, Kermit, Seminole
and Van Horn in the boys division. All of those teams except for Big Spring
will be entered in the girls division.
Field events will begin at 9 a.m. with the discus, girls' high jump and
pole vault and boys discus, triple jump and high jump. The other field events
will begin at 10:30 a.m., while the running events are scheduled to begin
with the finals of the 3200 meter run at 9 a.m. Running preliminaries in
the other events will follow, and the remaining finals will start at 4:10
p.m., with the finals of the 400 meter relay.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail newsdesk@nwol.net
Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium.
Copyright 2002 by Pecos Enterprise
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