The Odessa High baseball team couldn’t get out of an early hole and the El Paso Pebble Hills Spartans took a 7-1 win in Game1 of the bi-district round of the playoffs Thursday at Pressly Field.
The Spartans (26-6-2) used a strong start, scoring three runs in the top of the first inning and didn’t look back, pulling withinone win of advancing to the area round in the best-of-three series.
Pitcher Dylan Torres was credited with the win on the mound for the Spartans while Odessa High’s Angel Villa took the loss.
“We were a little concerned because we hadn’t played for ten days so I was concerned that we would be a little bit rusty,”Pebble Hills head coach Nick Alvarez said. “We win our ballgames with pitching and defense and that’s what we did today. Wecame out with 14 hits so it was good that we didn’t lose anything during that break. OHS has a really good team. Their pitcherplayed really well and we’re looking forward to a great series.”
The Bronchos fell to 18-13-2 for the season and will now have to win the next two on the road Saturday to keep their seasonalive.
“That’s a good team,” Odessa High head coach Jerod Couch said. “They swung the bat very well. We knew going in that wewould have to score runs to win but we have two more games. We were in this situation last week with Legacy and we’reexcited to be in this situation. The kids just have to respond and we’ll see how they’ll respond.”
Pebble Hills finished with 14 hits and 1 error while the Bronchos had five hits and one error.
The Spartans began the game on a good note, scoring three runs on five hits in the top of the first inning.
Pebble Hills’ Sal Rocha led off with a double into right field.
Rob Ontiverus followed it up with a single into center field, putting Rocha in scoring position.
Jake Alvarez’s RBI single into left field scored Rocha, giving the visitors an early 1-0 lead and putting Ontiverus on third.
Jake Ledesma then helped double Pebble Hills’ lead with an RBI single into center, scoring Ontiverus with still only one out inthe first inning.
Alvarez then scored on Andy Ambriz’s double and the Spartans remained firmly in control.
Odessa High’s JoeLuis Charles led off with a single to center in the bottom of the first but he and Bryan Hernandez both gotout on a double play soon after.
The Bronchos’ outfield was able to settle down a little bit in the second inning, not giving up any hits or runs from theSpartans.
However, Pebble Hills’ outfield continued to keep the Bronchos off the scoreboard as Torres didn’t allow a hit in the bottom ofthe second.
Things didn’t get any easier for the hosts as the Spartans continued to keep the hits coming in the third, scoring Bob Deal onan RBI by Ambriz and added another run before the end of the top half of the frame with a 5-0 advantage.
The Bronchos’ outfield managed to contain the Spartans, holding Pebble Hills scoreless in the fourth and fifth innings.
Odessa High’s Zayne Minjarez managed to get on base in the bottom of the fifth with his single into right field.
Manny Munoz’s RBI single got the Bronchos on the scoreboard soon after.
Odessa High managed to get a runner in scoring position but Jayven Gonzales’ out left two Broncho on base with Pebble Hillsleading 5-1 heading into the sixth.
Pebble Hills responded with Evan Lopez scoring on Rocha’s RBI single into center field to make it 6-1 in the top of the sixth.
Odessa High’s Zorian Del Real drew a walk in the bottom of the sixth with only one out as the Bronchos tried to get some latemomentum going but not much more as Torres struck out Sebastian Cabral to end the inning.
Pebble Hills added a run in the top of the seventh inning.
Both teams will resume their series with Game 2 at noon Saturday in El Paso. Game 3 will follow, if needed.
