Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Academy mishandled first state title opportunity

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Saturday, June 12, 1999

Academy mishandled first state title opportunity

By Stu Duncan
Caller-Times

AUSTIN - Kingsville Academy had as many errors as innings played Friday at Disch-Falk Field.
   And in state championship terms, that's not good for the home team.
   Seven costly errors by Kingsville Academy led to five unearned runs and ultimately Cooper's 8-7 Class 2A state baseball championship victory against The Pride Friday.
   It marked the Bulldogs' (26-6-1) first state championship in the program's first appearance at the state baseball tournament.
   Academy (23-8-2) also made its first state tournament appearance, but left the field with a clear understanding of the reason for its second place finish.
   Point to the big seven on the scoreboard for starters. And the two Academy runners tagged out at the plate by Bulldogs catcher Billie Mayberry in the sixth didn't help The Pride's cause.
   "You're not going to win many ballgames period in the game of baseball when you make seven errors behind the pitcher," Academy coach Mike Gonzalez said.
   "It was a bad start from the beginning," said The Pride senior starting pitcher Oscar Rodriguez, who gave up six runs but two earned in 2 1-3 innings. "I didn't have a good outing. Errors were the main thing that killed us. Our hitting was there."
   Cooper scored two unearned runs in the second to tie the game and another on Rodriguez's balk to take a 3-2 lead.
   Defensive deficiency
   The error-prone Academy infield also made two errors in the third which led to three more runs.
   "We just haven't played good defense behind him," Gonzalez said of Rodriguez. "I don't know what the reason is but whenever he gets the ball, we just flatten out."
   Academy's offense rallied for a four-run third to ensure Rodriguez wouldn't take his sixth loss in 15 decisions this season.
   The Pride senior reliever Juan Renteria wasn't as fortunate, as his record dropped to 8-3.
   "We just didn't make the plays when we had to," Renteria said. "If we would have made the plays we would've won."

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