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Barney Rodriguez shut down the Tri-County All-Stars over the final three
innings, and hit a solo home run to begin a comeback from a 5-2 deficit,
as Pecos scored an 8-5 victory in the loser's bracket game of the
double-elimination tournament.
The Little Leaguers will be at home tonight to face San Angelo Southern
in a 7 p.m. game at Chano Prieto Field. Southern stayed alive with a
15-1 victory Wednesday over Coke County, and tonight's winner will face
San Angelo Western on Friday.
Robbie Ontiveros had shut out Crane a week ago in his first tournament
start, but couldn't get through the third inning this time around.
Rodriguez came in and retired all three batters he faced in the third,
then held Tri-County to just four walks over the final three innings.
"Barney did a great job in coming in and shutting them down," said coach
Lee Serrano, whose team finally got to Tri-County's Anthony Martinez in
the fifth inning.
Martinez allowed a pair of runs in the second, but Pecos really didn't
start hitting the ball well until after Rodriguez' fourth inning homer
cut the lead to 5-3. A trio of errors and Joey Ortega's single tied the
game, and then two out singles by Matthew Levario, Freddie Torres and
Mario Rangel around a walk to Rodriguez gave the Little Leaguers their
margin of victory.
"It seemed like our bats finally woke up, and we started making some
good plays behind Barney," Serrano said. "I told them when we get behind
we need to learn how to come back, and we did tonight."
Martinez hit Rodriguez with a pitch, then gave up a single to Torres in
the second, before Lorenzo Serrano blooped an RBI single into short
right field. He went to second on the throw home, and Torres scored when
catcher Slade Wishun threw back to second to get Serrano.
But Tri-County got a pair of unearned runs in their half of the inning
off a walk, a two out error by David Elkins and a double by Mason
McClintock off the glove of a diving Patrick Fuentes in center field.
Then in the fourth, Serrano dropped a Wishun pop-up to second, and
Martinez, Jason Smears and Justin Lyttle followed with singles around a
walk to Martinez, making it 5-2 and bringing on Rodriguez.
After getting out of the third, his biggest problem came in the fifth,
when he walked Smears and Lyttle, then saw both move up on a passed ball
by Torres. But Rodriguez got two comebackers to the mound and a
strikeout after that, then allowed only a two-out walk in the sixth.
Serrano said Levario, who got the win in Pecos' tournament opener
against Alpine, would pitch tonight's game against Southern. "I hope
Matthew has the same stuff Barney had, and we also need to get our big
bats going. Matthew, Tony and Robbie are not hitting the way they can right now," Serrano said.
Pecos blew a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth at Sonora on Wednesday,
as the hosts scored seven times to grab an 8-3 lead. But the Senior
Leaguers came back to score eight runs of their own in the top of the
sixth, then held on for an 11-9 victory and a 7 p.m. home game tonight
against San Angelo Lake View in the double-elimination tournament.
The costly part of the inning came when Pifi Montoya was injured in a
collision while stealing third base with two out in the sixth. Montoya
suffered back and right shoulder pain and was taken by ambulance to
Sutton County Hospital, though manager Frank Rodriguez said his injury
was not as bad as first feared.
"It doesn't look that bad, but we just wanted to make sure he was all
right," said Rodriguez. Montoya has been Pecos' best pitcher in
tournament play, and Rodriguez had hoped to start him tonight against
Lake View.
Jason Payne started Wednesday's game, and held a 3-1 lead after four
innings before tiring. He left in favor of Joshua Casillas with the
score tied at 3-3, but walks and errors allowed Sonora to score five
more times before the inning was over.
"It was a nightmare. We couldn't field the ball. We couldn't get control
of it," Rodriguez said. "But we came back right away. That shows what
they can do."
A pair of lead-off walks, and a double by David Rodriguez got things
going. Joel Garcia then singled, and two more walks and an error tied
the score, and Montoya's single put Pecos ahead.
Earlier, Garcia had an RBI double in the second inning, while Luis
Salgado homered in the third to give Pecos the early lead.
The game ended on a weird play, after Casillas, who got the win, loaded
the bases on walks with two out. Casillas then got two strikes on
Crispin Lira when the runner on third, Hector Gonzales, broke for home.
He slid past Rodriguez at home plate, but the catcher then threw to
third to trap Jarred Solis, who broke for the base on a delayed steal
and was caught in a game-ending rundown.
The winner of tonight's game will face the loser of tonight's San Angelo Western-Crane game, set for 7 p.m. on Friday.
Tyson expected severe sanctions for biting Evander Holyfield's ears, and
he got them on Wednesday when the Nevada State Athletic Commission
revoked his boxing license and fined him $3 million.
What appears to be a lifetime ban might actually turn into the quickest
route for Tyson to return the ring -- possibly as early as next year.
``I feel very, very confident you'll see Mike Tyson fighting again
within a year,'' Tyson's attorney Oscar Goodman said.
Tyson was somewhere in New York when the commission decided against
suspending the former heavyweight champion for a set period of time and
instead simply revoked his license to box in Nevada.
While in New York, he purchased a Ferrari 456 GT at the Wide World of
Cars in Spring Valley, N.Y., according to sales representative Nick
Saradakis. The car has a retail price in the $200,000-$250,000 range.
``I'll be back in `98,'' Tyson vowed according to today's edition of the
(New York) Daily News.
State law allows Tyson to reapply a year from now for a new boxing
license, though there is no guarantee the commission will give him one.
``Essentially, this is a permanent revocation with an annual review,''
Donald Haight, the commission's legal adviser, said.
If the commission looks favorably on Tyson's application next July for a
boxing license he could be back in the ring as early as August or
September. That would mean he would be out of the ring for barely more
time than some active heavyweights take between fights.
``I think they're saying we're banning you for a year and then after
that you can come back into boxing,'' said fellow boxer Lennox Lewis,
the WBC heavyweight champion.
Commissioners refused to say what they will do in a year's time, but
Goodman predicted that once the ``lynch mob mentality'' settles down,
Tyson will be able to get his license back.
``I know these fellas. He'll be approved in a year,'' Goodman said.
``I'm sure Mike Tyson being the attraction he is in the sport of boxing,
and the attraction he is in the state of Nevada, and with the financial
investment placed in him ... all these things will weigh in his favor,''
said Larry Hazzard, New Jersey's boxing commissioner. ``If he lives a
clean life and gets psychiatric counseling, I do believe strongly they
will give him his license back.''
It took boxing commissioners only 26 minutes Wednesday to judge Tyson
guilty of unsportsmanlike conduct and discrediting boxing. Another 18
minutes later they voted unanimously for what on the surface seems to be
the harshest penalty possible.
Then they held out hope that the fighter involved in most of boxing's
richest fights may not be out of the sport long.
``The one person who has the most influence on how long this will last
is Mike Tyson,'' said commission member Dr. James Nave. ``He has to
decide how to live his life and how to conduct himself.''
Even at a minimum of one year, the penalty will be financially severe
for Tyson, who has made $140 million in the ring in the two years since
he was released from an Indiana prison after serving a sentence for
rape.
At the age of 31, a lengthy absence from the ring would also hasten what
many view as a decline in his boxing skills exposed in the two fights
with Holyfield. If he is allowed to return to the ring, it could be more
as a curiosity than a serious heavyweight contender.
It will be the second exile in 13 years of pro boxing for Tyson, who
spent three years in prison after being convicted of raping Desiree
Washington in an Indianapolis hotel room.
``Anything over a year would be disastrous,'' veteran trainer Emanuel
Steward said. ``His style of fighting is a youth-style fighting.
Fighters like that don't usually fight past 27, anyway.''
By revoking Tyson's license, the commission also ordered him not to have
dealings with people who hold Nevada boxing licenses. That includes
promoter Don King, who has guided Tyson's career and promoted his fights
for much of the last decade.
King did not attend the meeting. Neither did Tyson's co-managers, John
Horne and Rory Holloway.
Commissioners said Tyson's absence had nothing to do with his penalty,
though Chairman Dr. Elias Ghanem said he would advise Tyson to show up
when he wants his license back.
Nevada's action does not automatically mean that Tyson cannot fight in
other states, but boxing regulators believe the revocation will be
honored by all other states. A new federal law doesn't specifically
address whether license revocations have to be honored in other
jurisdictions.
``I think the spirit of the law dictates it,'' said Joe Rolston, the
deputy attorney general who prosecuted Tyson. ``But if a state wants to
have Mike Tyson there are probably ways around the federal act.''
Though public opinion polls indicated the public wants Tyson banned from
boxing for life, most of the 22 people who got up and spoke to the
commission after the penalty was imposed said they thought Tyson was
getting a bad deal and should be allowed to fight.
Pecos Enterprise
Mac McKinnon, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail: news@bitstreet.com
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