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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Friday, April 9, 2004
Pecos slips to third in District 4-3A golf
The Pecos Eagles didn’t shoot a bad round on Thursday at Hogan Park in Midland - but it wasn’t as good as the Fort Stockton Panthers and the Monahans Loboes.
The Eagles, who were tied for first after the opening round of the 54-hole District 4-3A golf tournament last week in Pecos, fell into third place following the second round on Thursday. Three Pecos golfers broke 80 for the second week in a row and the Eagles shot a 319 overall, but that was 20 strokes above their opening round total and left them eight shots in back of first round co-leader Fort Stockton and four behind Monahans in the race for the two regional tournament berths.
The Loboes had the day’s best round, shooting a 307 for the second week in a row, and are at 614 through 36 holes, while the Panthers shot a 311 and are leading with a 610 score.
Individually, Michael Nichols held on to first place in the medalist race, following up his opening round 69 with a 75 for a 144 score. Sal Nichols, who shot an opening round 75, shot a 78 on Thursday and is at 153 overall, while Pete Vasquez followed his first round score of 71 with a 79 and is at 150 through 36 holes.
Monahans’ Braxton Brin is second in the medalist race behind Michael Nichols, with a 148 after shooting a 76 on Thursday. Along with the top two teams, the top six individual finishers also qualify for Region I-3A tournament competition, back in Midland in late April.
Freshman Zack Morton, who shot an 84 in Pecos, had an 87 on Thursday and is at 171 overall, while the other ‘A’ team golfer for Pecos, Jake Weinacht, shot a 94 and is at 192 going into the final round of play next week at the Pecos County Golf Course in Fort Stockton.
Pecos’ girls also will wrap up their district tournament next Wednesday at Fort Stockton. The girls are in second place in their standings, 33 strokes behind first-place Monahans but 81 strokes in front of third place Fort Stockton.
Stockton meet lightning fears zap final races
The 500 yard run to the buses turned out to be the final event at Thursday’s track meet in Fort Stockton, which was ended three events before its scheduled finish when lighting and rain started moving in on Panther Stadium.
Before then, the Pecos Eagle boys picked up four gold medals in the field events and timed final running events, while Pecos’ girls picked up two in their last meet before District 4-3A competition next Thursday and Friday in Kermit.
Rashad Terry took the high jump with a 6-foot-2 effort and later won the 100 meter dash with a 10.81 time, despite mistaking the track’s exchange zone markers for the finish line and slowing up 10 yards before the end.
Terry also was able to help the Eagles pull out a second place finish behind Monahans in the 800 meter relay. “We ran a 1:32.8, but we can do better than that at district,” said Eagles’ coach Jerry Parent. “John (Parent) and Simon (Castillo) had a bad handoff, but we’ll work on that.”
The Eagles’ other first in the running finals came from Jeremiah Mora, who took the 400 meter dash with a 54 second time. Larry Johnson placed fifth in that race. In the field events, John Parent won the discus for the other field event first for Pecos.
Chad Evans, who won his first gold medal in the shot put last week at Kermit, finished only third on Thursday, but threw 49-foot-4. “That’s his best throw of the season,” said assistant coach Robbie Ortega.
The girls also picked up firsts in the discus and 100 meter dash. Stephanie Herrera won the discus with a 115-foot-11 1/4 throw, while Jummy Akinyode ran a 13.2 to win the 100. It’s a race the junior has only run twice this season, taking first on both occasions.
Herrera also took second in the shot put with a 38-foot-5 3/4 throw, while Jessica Flores was third in the discus with a 101-8 throw and Leslie Rodriguez placed third in the high jump with a 4-foot-8 effort. Bianca Baeza had the Eagles’ other points in the field events, with a fifth in the triple jump.
Aside from Akinyode’s win, Jennifer Martinez placed second and Alessandra Carrasco was third in the 800 meter run, Deannady Herrera was sixth in the 3200 meter run, the 400 meter relay team finished fifth and Rodriguez was fourth in the 300 meter hurdles in what was also only her second time running the event in competition. “Hopefully she’ll drop some more time next week,” Eagles’ coach Roxie Chavez said.
The races that weren’t run on Thursday due to the lighting fears were the 200 meter dash, the 1600 meter run and the 1600 meter relay. Terry and Akinyode would have been among the favorites in the 200 meters, while Martinez would have also been among those favored in the girls’ 1600 meter run.
All of the District 4-3A teams except for Kermit were at the Fort Stockton meet, while Abilene Wylie, also was entered, as was Midland Christian. The Eagles could see Wylie again in three weeks at the Region I-3A Track and Field Championships at Ratliff Stadium in Odessa. The top two finishers in each event at district competition will advance to regionals.
Eagles outslug Blue Devils in fight for first place, 10-8
With almost an entirely new batting lineup this year, the Pecos Eagles didn’t figure to win that many slugfests during the 2004 baseball season. And after a 3-12 start, the Eagles didn’t figure to be 5-0 at the midway point of the District 4-3A schedule.
But that’s where Pecos finds itself going into the Good Friday-Easter holiday weekend, as they equaled their win total for the entire district schedule a year ago by winning a slugfest in Presidio Thursday night over the No. 6-ranked Blue Devils.
Pecos rallied from an early deficit for the fifth time in as many 4-3A games, but this time, after going from a 2-0 hole to an 8-2 lead, watched as Presidio staged a comeback of their own. The Blue Devils scored six times in the fourth inning to tie the game at 8-8, but in the sixth inning Isaiah Rayos foiled Presidio’s strategy, doubling to right field with the bases loaded and pitcher Jose Reyes then made that lead stand up, surviving a pair of late inning jams to give the Eagles a 10-8 victory.
Rayos’ double came after Jaime Muela reached base on an error off reliever Adan Garcia to open the inning. Victor Reyes then blooped a single to center field, and after Garcia was able to get Oscar Parada for the inning’s first out, manager Caesar Barriga decided to walk Reyes and pitch to Rayos, who doubled over the head of Alex Calderon in right field to score what turned out to be the winning runs of the game.
Presidio had taken a 2-0 lead in their first at bat, before the Eagles came back to tie the score in the second inning, on a two-out error by Jose Valdez at third base on an Eddie Vela grounder. Pecos then took a 3-2 lead in the third when Parada singled with two outs, stole second and scored on Reyes’ double down the line in left off Juan Aguilar, who came into the game with a 5-0 season record.
Aguilar wouldn’t survive the fourth inning, when Pecos added five more runs. He got himself in trouble by hitting Edward Valencia with a pitch and then throwing away Josh Anchondo’s sacrifice bunt. Vela followed with a ground-rule double to score Valencia and make it 4-2, which brought Garcia into the game to pitch. He was greeted by consecutive RBI singles by Jonathan Garcia, Muela and Victor Reyes, with Muela scoring the Eagles’ eighth run on a throwing error by Calderon.
The Blue Devils got out of trouble after that, and then proceeded to tie the game in their half of the inning. Three straight singles scored two runs, and consecutive doubles by Hector Rodriguez and Calderon scored two more to make it 8-6. Reyes then hit Marcos Rodriguez and walked Valdez, before giving up an RBI ground out to Armando Dominguez.
Presidio then tied the game when Marcos Rodriguez scored on a passed ball by Muela that appeared to be a foul ball by Omar Macias.
That turned out to be all for Presidio. A double play got Reyes out of a jam in the fifth, and Valdez was thrown out at home trying to score in the sixth. Then in the seventh, Payan would have more to complain about, after Hector Rodriguez was ruled to have been hit by a pitch following a lead-off walk in the seventh.
But with two on and none out the Blue Devils were unable to execute a sacrifice bunt, and Esequel Hernandez was thrown out at third base by Muela. With the tying run off the bases, Reyes then struck out Calderon and Marcos Rodriguez to end the game.
The win put Pecos at 5-0 in district and 8-12 overall, while Presidio fell to 4-1 in district and 16-2 on the season. The Eagles remain on the road for their next two games, beginning Tuesday night in Kermit against the Yellowjackets, who lost at home to Pecos, 9-6, in the district opener.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 432-445-5475, FAX 432-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
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Copyright 2003 by Pecos Enterprise
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