The Mustangs baseball season came to an end on Saturday when they dropped game two of a scheduled three game series to number 2 state ranked Shallowater in a series played in Snyder.
After losing game one 6-0 on Friday and the Mustangs were hoping to extend the series to a third game with a win on Saturday, but Shallowater doused their hopes with a 5 run outburst in the first inning which pretty much sealed the deal.
In the first game the Mustangs were hard pressed to come up with hits and finished with just two hits in the game.
Trailing 3-0 in the 4th inning the Mustangs loaded the bases on two walks and a single but Shallowater ace Ryan Kotolck ended the threat with a strikeout of Isaac Yanez, his third of the inning, to keep the lead at 3-0.
They then put the game away with three more runs in the top of 6th inning for the final 6-0 score.
Kotolck, a Texas Tech signee, finished the game with 12 strikeouts and five base on balls. Aaron Villarreal and Broedy Burris had the only hits for the Mustangs, both singles.
Braden McGary started the game and lasted 5.2 innings giving up six runs on seven hits, struck out five and walked three. Luis Rodriquez finished up the game and gave up two hits while striking out one.
In game two Shallowater roughed up starting pitcher Broedy Burris with five runs in the first inning. After Burris struck out the leadoff batter Shallowater put together a walk, two singles and a double for their first three runs. Burris settled down and struck out the number six batter, but followed that by hitting the next batter, an error, and another walk that led to two more runs.
All total Shallowater had the five first inning runs on just three hits, but the two walks, a hit batter, and an error accounted for the five runs.
In the second inning Aaron Villarreal opened the inning with a sharp single to left. Burris followed with a double to deep center field that brought Villarreal all the way around for the Mustangs first run with Burris advancing to third on a misplayed ball for an error. Jeremy Castillo hit a grounder to third base, but Burris was nailed at the plate trying to score for the second out.
Shallowater then added two more runs in the second inning with two base on balls, another hit batter and a single for a 7-1 lead.
Luis Rodriquez came on in the third inning and pretty well shut the Shallowater bats down giving up just one hit, striking out five and walking two over the last five innings. He did give up one unearned run in the 5th inning.
Denver City came up with two runs in their half of the 4th inning to narrow the score to 7-3. Villarreal started the inning with a swinging third strike, but the ball got past the catcher for an error allowing him to reach first. Rodriquez singled to center putting runners on the corners and Castillo followed with a shot over the left fielder’s head to bring in the Mustangs two runs.
The Mustangs outhit Shallowater nine to five, but once again walks and errors plagued their efforts.
Burris, Rodriquez, and Castillo all had two hits while James Chatham, Villarreal, and Justin Riley all finished with one hit.
The Mustangs finished their year with a 20-13 record finishing in third place in the district standings. They were the last district team to be eliminated from post season play. Roosevelt lost to Alpine in the first round while Idalou got beat by Littlefield and Brownfield was ousted by this same Shallowater team, both in the second round. This marked the deepest run for the Mustangs in several seasons.
David Delgado coached the Mustangs and was assisted by Judd Cathy, Brian Lewis, and Chad Dennis.
