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MISSION — Sharyland High opened its Region IV-5A bi-district best-of-three series against Brownsville Veterans with a win on the road Friday night.
The Chargers closed the show, however, as Brownsville Veterans defeated Sharyland High twice Saturday at Sharyland High School to win the series 2-1. Brownsville Veterans won Game 2, 4-0, to force a deciding Game 3 and pulled off a 9-6 victory.
Brownsville Veterans (27-4-1, 12-2) advances to the area round for a matchup against Corpus Christi Ray next week.
“A lot of teams, down 1-0 and losing a game like that, you can kind of fold. These guys, they’ve been great all year, had a lot of adversity, and they battled,” Brownsville Veterans head coach Adam Vera said. “The word was believe and don’t give up. Know that we can take two. Know what we’re made of, and I’m just proud of them right now.”
The Chargers’ Game 2 and Game 3 starters, Jason Villarreal and Marlon Rodriguez, combined to limit the Rattlers to one run in both games.
Villarreal pitched a complete-game shutout in Game 2, allowing two hits and six walks while striking out four.
Rodriguez followed by allowing four hits, four walks and two strikeouts across 5.2 innings of one-run ball in Game 3.
“Game 1 was a tough loss. We did everything we could, but the pitcher for Sharyland did a hell of a job,” Villarreal said. “We didn’t give up. A lot of teams go down, but we were able to come back better. Today’s mindset was we have nothing to lose and we just wanted to ball out as a team, and that’s what we did.
During Game 3, the Chargers scored at least one run during each of the first five innings. They added three more during the seventh to create a 9-1 cushion before the Rattlers rallied late with five runs during the seventh.
Juan Garcia led Brownsville Veterans during Game 2 by going 4-for-5 with three RBIs and one run scored.
“We have the heart of a lion, we wanted to win, and on to Round 2 we go,” he said.
Sharyland High’s season comes to an end at 23-8-2 overall.
“We knew coming into today they weren’t going to lay down. Their pitchers threw a hell of a game,” Sharyland first-year head coach Austin Bickerton said. “They’re a well-coached team, very disciplined, play together all the time and it shows in the way they play.”
Bickerton said he was proud of the day his team battled until the final out of the series.
“That’s the kind of team, kind of players and kind of leadership we had with this senior group. They were going to go out just like that,” he said. “They had some really great plays, but the ball just didn’t drop our way today.”
The Chargers shift their attention to the area round for a meeting with Corpus Christi Ray (29-3, 16-0).
“They’re a good team. We’ve seen a little bit of them on film. We know they’re tough, we just got to bring it and got to believe,” Vera said. “When our guys are on, we can hang with anybody.”
