3 Ring Timmy
06-04-2005, 11:02 AM
Beating the unbeatable champs
By Will Wright
The Herald-Zeitung
Published June 03, 2005
ROBSTOWN — They weren’t given a thread of respect in going against the No. 1 team in the state and one of the best in the nation. Making matters worse, their best pitcher, sore ribs and all, wasn’t entirely up for the task.
But the Smithson Valley Rangers managed to shock the state Friday, jolting defending Class 5A state champion Corpus Christi Moody 1-0 to win the 5A-Region IV championship at Aviator Field.
“The game went so fast,” Smithson Valley coach George Proctor said following his team’s 15th straight victory, which took only 1 1/2 hours to complete. “All of a sudden you look up, and it’s the sixth inning. Kendal got up there and competed — it was an amazing game. The defense kept it up and finished the game. It all came together.”
The Rangers scored their only run in the fifth, as second baseman Reagan Moczygemba scored on Cody Beyer’s single. Kendal Volz shrugged off pain to pitch Smithson Valley’s fourth straight shutout — and into its first UIL state tournament since 2001.
“It’s really something special,” said catcher Joe Pawelek, “To not only knock off the defending state champs, and their awesome pitcher (Luis Flores), but that we’re moving on to the second state tournament in the school’s history. Doing it against a team like that makes it a little sweeter.”
All season long Moody (33-3-1) was ranked No. 1 by the Texas Baseball Coaches Association. This week, it was ranked No. 18 in the nation by USAToday. The Corpus Christi paper editorialized Tuesday that the Trojans already had the title won. Smithson Valley (28-7) begged to differ and proved it against University of Houston-bound hurler Flores (10-1).
In the first inning against leadoff batter Clay Fuller, Smithson Valley sent a message that Flores wasn’t going to be unhittable. He fell behind 2-0 before Fuller smashed a triple to right centerfield.
“We had to come out confident,” Proctor said, remembering what the Rangers had failed to do last year, when they lost to Moody 3-1 and 10-0 in the Region IV semifinals. In that first game, Flores tossed a one-hitter. The Rangers totaled five hits against him Friday.
The Rangers failed to score Fuller with one out in the first, as Flores escaped by fanning two and inducing a pop out. Instead, they waited until the fifth. Moczygemba ripped a leadoff single up the middle and went to second on Casey Pyle’s fielder’s choice. Facing a full count, Cody Beyer laced a single to right center, scoring Moczygemba for the lone score of the game.
“We tried to squeeze in a run early and couldn’t quite get that done,” Proctor said. “ Reagan got on and we tried to hit-and-run to keep their defense off balance. It didn’t work perfect, but we got him knocked in with the next guy.”
Added Moczygemba, who had another single in the seventh: “(Flores) was a great pitcher. He made a few mistakes by leaving some up in there for us to hit, and we took advantage of it.”
Beyer said Flores made it almost easy.
“He was coming at me with fast balls — he never threw me anything else,” he said. “The one he threw outside, I just went with it.”
But it was Volz (14-2) who was the man of the hour. The lean right hander thought he had pulled a rib muscle earlier in the week, and admittedly he didn’t have his best stuff. That might have made the difference in the game, Proctor said. Because Volz wasn’t consistently able to reach full velocity — 90 mph plus — it might have worked in his favor.
“It really threw them off-balance,” Proctor said. “It may have been a blessing that he was injured — it’s funny how things happen.”
The Trojans weren’t laughing. Volz allowed just one Moody baserunner in every inning but the second and seventh, when he retired the side in both. He gave up four hits and hit a batter, but he fanned five in extending the Rangers’ scoreless inning streak to 30 innings.
“I had to hunker down and let the defense play more than I’m used to,” Volz said. “I couldn’t throw it by people like I’m used to doing. But it all worked out.”
Volz relied on his curves, change-ups and fastballs, which only occasionally reached between 85-90 mph.
“He was kind of tender. He didn’t look good before the game and didn’t follow through on his pitches,” Proctor said. “As the game went on, he got better.”
The Smithson Valley defense had an easier time of it than last week in its final game against Laredo Alexander. Balls either were launched into the sky for easy pickings or were directly lined into fielders’ gloves.
One got the feeling that Moody, with five hitters batting at or over .400, might explode at any time. It didn’t happen Friday. Volz and the defense refused to bend. Again.
“That’s sort of the way it’s been the whole time in the playoffs,” Pawelek said. “We just did what we had to do. Kendal pitched awesome — in terms of him coming at people, making the right pitches at the right time.
“There have been games where he’s been able to blow people away. That wasn’t the case today, and he still excelled.”
Moody coach Corky Gallegos offered no excuses. He started four freshmen Friday and was confident for his graduating seniors and the future of his program.
“It’s a one-game series. The would-Is, could-Is and should-Is aren’t even relevant,” he said. “Everything was on the line. One run beat us. Am I disappointed? I’m not. Our guys were a bunch of overachievers, but we didn’t tell them that.”
Gallegos knew Volz was hurting, but he and his players couldn’t finger it.
“We saw something was wrong, but he did a good job of pitching,” Gallegos said. “He mixed it in and out and it was tough to put something together.”
Flores, who ended his high school career 49-4, said of Volz: “We expected 95 mph from him the whole game, but he was mixing it real good. He threw a fast ball at about 82 mph and had a good slider and curve. We just couldn’t hit him.”
Flores said once Fuller tagged him for a triple, the Trojans knew they were going to be in a ball game.
“We figured it was going to go back an forth,” he said. “They came out on top and we came out on the bottom.”
Which is exactly why Proctor insisted on playing a one-game series — one for all the marbles.
“I’m definitely glad we played one game,” he said. “We knew our strengths. They didn’t think it was right, but we knew what we knew.”
And now the Rangers know they’re going to Round Rock.
By Will Wright
The Herald-Zeitung
Published June 03, 2005
ROBSTOWN — They weren’t given a thread of respect in going against the No. 1 team in the state and one of the best in the nation. Making matters worse, their best pitcher, sore ribs and all, wasn’t entirely up for the task.
But the Smithson Valley Rangers managed to shock the state Friday, jolting defending Class 5A state champion Corpus Christi Moody 1-0 to win the 5A-Region IV championship at Aviator Field.
“The game went so fast,” Smithson Valley coach George Proctor said following his team’s 15th straight victory, which took only 1 1/2 hours to complete. “All of a sudden you look up, and it’s the sixth inning. Kendal got up there and competed — it was an amazing game. The defense kept it up and finished the game. It all came together.”
The Rangers scored their only run in the fifth, as second baseman Reagan Moczygemba scored on Cody Beyer’s single. Kendal Volz shrugged off pain to pitch Smithson Valley’s fourth straight shutout — and into its first UIL state tournament since 2001.
“It’s really something special,” said catcher Joe Pawelek, “To not only knock off the defending state champs, and their awesome pitcher (Luis Flores), but that we’re moving on to the second state tournament in the school’s history. Doing it against a team like that makes it a little sweeter.”
All season long Moody (33-3-1) was ranked No. 1 by the Texas Baseball Coaches Association. This week, it was ranked No. 18 in the nation by USAToday. The Corpus Christi paper editorialized Tuesday that the Trojans already had the title won. Smithson Valley (28-7) begged to differ and proved it against University of Houston-bound hurler Flores (10-1).
In the first inning against leadoff batter Clay Fuller, Smithson Valley sent a message that Flores wasn’t going to be unhittable. He fell behind 2-0 before Fuller smashed a triple to right centerfield.
“We had to come out confident,” Proctor said, remembering what the Rangers had failed to do last year, when they lost to Moody 3-1 and 10-0 in the Region IV semifinals. In that first game, Flores tossed a one-hitter. The Rangers totaled five hits against him Friday.
The Rangers failed to score Fuller with one out in the first, as Flores escaped by fanning two and inducing a pop out. Instead, they waited until the fifth. Moczygemba ripped a leadoff single up the middle and went to second on Casey Pyle’s fielder’s choice. Facing a full count, Cody Beyer laced a single to right center, scoring Moczygemba for the lone score of the game.
“We tried to squeeze in a run early and couldn’t quite get that done,” Proctor said. “ Reagan got on and we tried to hit-and-run to keep their defense off balance. It didn’t work perfect, but we got him knocked in with the next guy.”
Added Moczygemba, who had another single in the seventh: “(Flores) was a great pitcher. He made a few mistakes by leaving some up in there for us to hit, and we took advantage of it.”
Beyer said Flores made it almost easy.
“He was coming at me with fast balls — he never threw me anything else,” he said. “The one he threw outside, I just went with it.”
But it was Volz (14-2) who was the man of the hour. The lean right hander thought he had pulled a rib muscle earlier in the week, and admittedly he didn’t have his best stuff. That might have made the difference in the game, Proctor said. Because Volz wasn’t consistently able to reach full velocity — 90 mph plus — it might have worked in his favor.
“It really threw them off-balance,” Proctor said. “It may have been a blessing that he was injured — it’s funny how things happen.”
The Trojans weren’t laughing. Volz allowed just one Moody baserunner in every inning but the second and seventh, when he retired the side in both. He gave up four hits and hit a batter, but he fanned five in extending the Rangers’ scoreless inning streak to 30 innings.
“I had to hunker down and let the defense play more than I’m used to,” Volz said. “I couldn’t throw it by people like I’m used to doing. But it all worked out.”
Volz relied on his curves, change-ups and fastballs, which only occasionally reached between 85-90 mph.
“He was kind of tender. He didn’t look good before the game and didn’t follow through on his pitches,” Proctor said. “As the game went on, he got better.”
The Smithson Valley defense had an easier time of it than last week in its final game against Laredo Alexander. Balls either were launched into the sky for easy pickings or were directly lined into fielders’ gloves.
One got the feeling that Moody, with five hitters batting at or over .400, might explode at any time. It didn’t happen Friday. Volz and the defense refused to bend. Again.
“That’s sort of the way it’s been the whole time in the playoffs,” Pawelek said. “We just did what we had to do. Kendal pitched awesome — in terms of him coming at people, making the right pitches at the right time.
“There have been games where he’s been able to blow people away. That wasn’t the case today, and he still excelled.”
Moody coach Corky Gallegos offered no excuses. He started four freshmen Friday and was confident for his graduating seniors and the future of his program.
“It’s a one-game series. The would-Is, could-Is and should-Is aren’t even relevant,” he said. “Everything was on the line. One run beat us. Am I disappointed? I’m not. Our guys were a bunch of overachievers, but we didn’t tell them that.”
Gallegos knew Volz was hurting, but he and his players couldn’t finger it.
“We saw something was wrong, but he did a good job of pitching,” Gallegos said. “He mixed it in and out and it was tough to put something together.”
Flores, who ended his high school career 49-4, said of Volz: “We expected 95 mph from him the whole game, but he was mixing it real good. He threw a fast ball at about 82 mph and had a good slider and curve. We just couldn’t hit him.”
Flores said once Fuller tagged him for a triple, the Trojans knew they were going to be in a ball game.
“We figured it was going to go back an forth,” he said. “They came out on top and we came out on the bottom.”
Which is exactly why Proctor insisted on playing a one-game series — one for all the marbles.
“I’m definitely glad we played one game,” he said. “We knew our strengths. They didn’t think it was right, but we knew what we knew.”
And now the Rangers know they’re going to Round Rock.