The Smyer Bobcats hosted the Ropes Eagles for a district baseball matchup this past Saturday at Smyer High School, resulting in the Eagles earning a 23-3 win across five innings.
Ropes started out hot with a 13-run first inning, and Smyer would respond by outscoring Ropes 3-2 in the second and third innings before Ropes would close out the final two frames with eight more runs scored.
In route to win, the Eagles bested the Bobcats 19-4 in hits, 12-2 in walks drawn and 0-4 in errors.
"I've been super proud of the team this year as far as hitting the ball,” Ropes Head Baseball Coach Nathan Flores said. "We've got a lot of dudes that can do well swinging that bat, so one of the points of emphasis at the beginning of the year was just making sure that we swing it. As long as we’re doing that, it does not mat- ter who I have in the lineup or where I put them. I think our offense is what’s really going to get us through this season.”
The Eagles certainly are putting that philosophy into practice at the plate, which led to many standout performances including catcher Zach Ramirez going 2/3 with three runs-batted-in, two walks, two runs scored and two stolen bases, Brayden Hogg going 3/3 with two RBI’s and two walks, shortstop Ryland Kieth going 2/5 with two RBI’s and a home run, left fielder Maddux Sierra going ¾ with four runs scored, right fielder Branson Simental going 2/2 with two RBI’s, two runs scored, a double and a walk, and center fielder Jaivyth Cruz go ing ½ with four runs scored, three walks, an RBI and a triple.
On the mound for the Eagles, Hogg and Elijah Flores shared the workload. Hogg pitched three innings, col- lecting five strikeouts while only surrendering three earned runs and three hits, and Flores pitched two shutout innings, collecting three strikeouts and allowing one hit.
“Brayden’s done a good job this year. What helps our pitchers a lot is the trust they have for our defense," Coach Flores said. “We have a really good defense. We've got guys in positions to make plays, so it takes a lot of pressure off the pitchers. They can throw strikes when they need to, not worrying about putting the ball in play.”
The win improves the Eagles to 12-4 overall and 2-0 in district play, while the loss drops Smyer to 3-8 overall and 0-2 in district play.
The Bobcats played stretches of good, competi- tive baseball in the loss, but struggled to ever fully get into the game following the tough first inning.
“I thought we competed pretty well if you erased the runs we gave up that first inning,” Smyer Head Baseball Coach Jerry Lawrence said. "We're still trying to find the best positions for our play- ers. We should have done it earlier, but we’re trying to do it before the next dis trict game. That’s part of the game, figuring out who can play what.”
Coach Lawrence went on to say his team’s big emphasis moving forward is eliminating errors but noted that he liked how his team responded to adversity by scoring three runs in the third inning.
All three of those runs were batted in by Caleb Pearce, who went ½ with a double. Other Bobcats standouts at the plate included left fielder Skyler Pond going 2/3 with a run scored, third baseman Cash Pastusek going ½ and shortstop Ryann Gutierrez with two walks and a run scored.
On the mound for the Bobcats, the workload was split between Pearce, Pond, Austin Martinez and Gutierrez. Pond pitched the majority with three innings pitched, recording two strikeouts, and Gutierrez also recorded a strikeout.
Following the game, both teams will be back in action this week for a new series. The Bobcats play at Tahoka early in the week and then host them at 11 a.m. on Saturday, and Ropes plays a double-header against Post early in the week.