PECOS ENTERPRISE

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April 21 ,1997

Eagles' bats silenced again, 4-0


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By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer

PECOS, Apr. 21 -- The gamble would have paid off, if the Pecos Eagles
had hit Sterlin Gilbert they way they did three weeks ago.

Instead, the Eagles hit Gilbert the way they had two years ago -- that
is, almost not at all -- and wound up on the short end of a 4-0 score in
San Angelo against the Lake View Chiefs.

Eagles' coach Bubba Williams gave senior Eric Abila his first pitching
start since the 1996 Monahans Sandhills Tournament, and he allowed only
a Mark Childress home run over the first five innings, before tiring in
the sixth, when the Chiefs scored three insurance runs.

But after beating Gilbert and the Chiefs 11-1 on April 1, the Eagles
were no-hit by the senior for 5_ innings, until Cisco Rodriguez laced a
double to right-center field. It turned out to be the only solid shot of
the day by Pecos.

"What's the old saying? `Good pitching stops good hitting.' That's what
happened today," Williams said. "He pitched a good game, and Eric did an
outstanding job coming in and pitching. We just didn't give him any
help."

Gilbert wound up striking out 14, while Lake View's defense came through
in the fifth inning, after Childress' solo shot with one out in the
fourth gave Lake View the lead.

Gilbert got himself into trouble, walking Lucio Florez to lead off the
inning, then sending him to second on a bad pickoff throw. But Gilbert
was able to field Joseph Strain's sacrifice bunt attempt and throw out
Florez at third base, and Strain was then thrown out trying to steal by
Childress.

John Gutierrez was also able to draw a walk, and pinch runner Hector
Garcia stole second, but Gilbert fanned Joseph Contreras to retire the
side.

Gilbert was unable to get Jason Abila out in the teams' April 1 game, as
he collected three of his four hits against the right hander. But this
time, Gilbert won the battle, holding Abila to just a trio of fly outs,
the biggest coming in the sixth, after Rodriguez' double broke up the
no-hitter and put the tying run on second. He then fanned Eric Abila to
retire the side, and struck out the side in the seventh to end the game.

"Our hitting has just gone down the last couple of games," Williams
said. "I don't know what it is, but we did miss Richard (Gutierrez)
today."

Pecos lost their leading hitter to grades for the rest of the regular
season. He had one of only two Pecos hits in their other shutout loss
last week, to Andrews.

The Eagles survived their lack of offense until the fifth, when two
singles and two walks forced Eric Abila out of the game.

He had come close to matching Gilbert. Abila surrendered four hits in
the first five innings while striking out four, including Chris Martinez
and Gilbert in the third, after Abfledo Santillan had singled to lead
off, and moved to third on a bad pickoff throw by Eric Abila to first,
and a missed pickoff throw by Jason Abila at shortstop.

In the fifth, Gilbert and Guy Velez singled with one out, and Abila then
walked Childress ad Richard Luna on nine pitches. Louis Valencia then
replaced Abila, but Asby Franklin was able to bloop a single just in
front of a diving Contreras in right-center to make it 3-0, and Vasquez
then bobbled Santillan's grounder, allowing the final run to come in.

The win lifted San Angelo to 5-3 in district, and almost assured Lake
View of their first-ever post-season appearance. The Chiefs are 10-12 on
the year and close out their season at home against Andrews and at
Sweetwater.

On the positive side, the Eagles were able to give No. 1 pitcher Jason
Abila nearly a full week of rest going into Tuesday's home game against
Big Spring. Pecos can assure itsself of no worse than a playoff for
third place if they win their final two games, at home Tuesday against
the Steers and at Fort Stockton on Friday.

Both those games are a half-game up on Pecos after their game Saturday
was postponed due to wet grounds. They'll make that game up at 4 p.m.
Thursday.

The Panthers host Sweetwater Tuesday while the Steers close their season
Friday night in Andrews, where the Mustangs improved to 8-0 in District
4-4A and clinched their third straight title with a 10-1 win over
Sweetwater on Saturday.

......PECOS... SAN ANGELO.......
....ab...r...h...bi.......ab...r...h...bi
O.Luna cf...3...0...0...0...L.Velez ss...4...0...0...0
Rodrguz lf...3...0...1...0...Martinez 2b...3...0...0...0
J.Abila ss...3...0...0...0...Gilbert p...3...0...2...0
E.Abila p...3...0...0...0...Hill cr...0...1...0...0
Valencia p...0...0...0...0...G.Velez 1b...3...0...1...0
M.Abila c...2...0...0...0...LaFvrs cr...0...1...0...0
J.Aguilr ph...1...0...0...0...Childress c...1...1...1...1
Vasquez ss...0...0...0...0...McDnld cr...0...1...0...0
Florez dh...1...0...0...0...R.Luna cf...2...0...0...1
Strain 1b...2...0...0...0...Franklin 3b...3...0...1...1
Carrasco ph...1...0...0...0...Stbblefld rf...3...0...1...0
Mendoza 2b...1...0...0...0...Santilln lf...3...0...1...0
J.Gutrrz ph...0...0...0...0
Garcia pr...0...0...0...0
Contreras rf...1...0...0...0

Totals...21...0...1...0...Totals...25...4...7...3
Pecos ...0.0.0...0.0.0...0..--|0
San Angelo ...0.0.0...1.0.3...x..--|4
E -- E. Abila, J. Abila, Gilbert, Vasquez. LOB -- Pecos 4, San Angelo 6.
2B -- Rodriguez. HR -- Childress. SB -- Florez, O. Luna, Garcia. CS --
Strain (by Childress), Stubblefield.

...IP...H...R..ER..BB..KO
Pecos
E.Abila L, 0-1 ...5_...6...4...3...3..|4
Valencia ...2-3...1...0...0...0..|1
San Angelo
Gilbert W, 5-4 ...7...1...0...0...4..14
T -- 1:35.
.

Arenivas earns gold at qualifiers meet


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PECOS, Apr. 21 -- Pecos Eagles' runner Marisol Arenivas placed first on
Friday in a regional qualifiers track meet at Wink.

Arenivas and Penny Armstrong were Pecos' two regional qualifiers at the
District 4-4A track meet in Andrews on April 11, and will compete at the
Region I-4A track meet this Friday and Saturday in San Angelo. Both
placed second at the district meet.

Running in temperatures about 40 degrees warmer and in winds about 40
miles per hour slower, Arenivas cut 16 seconds off her second place time
at Andrews, finishing the two-mile race in 12:33.13. "They combined the
boys and girls, and she tried to stay up with the guys," Eagles coach
Becky Granado said. She wound up about two minutes behind the fastest
boy in the race, but won her own division by nearly a minute.

Armstrong had problems with the long jump, after arriving late to the
meet. She missed at the 5-foot mark, two inches lower than her best this
season, though higher than what was needed to reach regionals.

"We've been working on her form a technique. She's going way over the
bar, but it's her lower body that's brining the bar down," Granado said.

Arenivas will run Friday night in the regional finals of the 3200,
while Armstrong will jump on Saturday afternoon at the I-4A meet.

Pecos' two boys who qualified for regionals, Bryan and Jeff Brownlee,
were given the week off by coach Mike Ferrell. The Brownlees, who
finished 1-2 in the discus and shot put at Andrews, will throw Friday
evening and Saturday afternoon at the Region I-4A meet.

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State and Regional Sports Pages--San Angelo Standard-Times


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