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Saturday, April 7, 2001
Controverial call doesn’t stop Ray
Texans overcome loss of run as they go on to defeat Tigers, 9-3 in eight
By Matt Young
Caller-Times
After Ray High School had a potential game-winning run taken away in the seventh inning, the Texans made sure to pile up more than enough in extra innings.
   The Texans scored six runs in the eighth to put away Carroll, 9-3, Friday at Cabaniss Field.
   Ray (15-4-2, 6-1) fired right back in the eighth inning after having a run taken away in the seventh due to a controversial runner's interference call.
   Gilbert Ray Sanchez got things started with back-to-back singles to lead off the inning. Carroll pitcher Nick Neff walked Richard Recio to load the bases, but ball four bounced about 10 feet to the right of catcher J.R. Saenz.
   Seeing the ball scoot away, Sanchez hustled home and sneaked under the tag of Neff to give Ray the 4-3 lead.
   That just opened the floodgates for the Texans. Ray went on to load the bases and add a run when Gilbert Curiel was hit in the helmet by a pitch. Ray second baseman Danny Vargas followed that by blasting a grand slam over the left-field wall to put Carroll away.
   "We're a very emotional team, and sometimes you get concerned when a call doesn't go your way or something like what happened to us in the seventh happens," Ray coach Mario DeLeon said.
   "Because we are very emotional, you get concerned that the players are going to let a lot of that emotion out on the umpires and not put it into their performance," he said. "But I thought they did a great job of shaking it off and coming right back and scoring more runs."
   The controversial call came in the top of the seventh when it appeared that Ray had taken a 4-3 lead.
   Ray's Javier Salinas led off the inning with a walk. When Saenz, Carroll's catcher, booted Curiel's bunt attempt, Ray had runners on first and second with no outs. Vargas followed with a high chopper to Carroll shortstop Cliff Pennington, who threw to second baseman Amos Ramon for the force. But Ramon's throw to first sailed into the Ray dugout, allowing Salinas to come around to score the apparent go-ahead run.
   Then, the confusion ensued.
   As Ray players celebrated, Carroll argued that Curiel slid too aggressively to break up the double play. After a meeting between coaches and umpires, the umpires sided with Carroll. The Tigers were awarded the double play, Salinas' run was erased and he was sent back to second base, where he had begun before the play.
   Neff struck out Toro Trevino to end the threat.
   Although Trevino didn't come through at the plate in that inning, he certainly came through most of the game on the mound.
   Curiel started for the Texans and labored, giving up three Carroll runs in the second. Pennington drove in the first Carroll run with a single, and Ramon brought in the final two with a double to put the Tigers up, 3-2.
   After that tough inning for Curiel, Trevino came on and blew Carroll away. In the final six innings, Trevino gave up two hits, walked three and struck out eight.
   "Toro Trevino's the best I've seen," Carroll coach Lee Yeager said. "He's very competitive, and when you get him down a little, he just gets tougher. Ray is really tough to beat when he's on the mound."
   Carroll (14-8, 5-3) got a strong pitching performance from Neff, who had 12 strikeouts in his seven innings of work. He and the Tigers, however, were betrayed by a lack of clutch hitting.
   "We left six people on base in the first two innings, so that kills you right there," Yeager said. "If you can get a big hit there, you can break this thing open and it's a different game. We just never came through with a clutch hit when we needed it."
   Ray 020 100 06-9 8 1
   Carroll 030 000 00-3 7 2
   Gilbert Curiel (2), Trevino and Toro Trevino, Curiel. Nick Neff and J.R. Saenz. WP - Trevino. LP - Neff (5-3). HR - Ray, Richard Recio, Danny Vargas. Records - R, 15-5-2, 7-1; C, 14-8, 5-3.
   Highlights - R, Vargas 2-5, 4 RBIs; Art Ruiz 2-4, 2B, RBI, R; Gilbert Ray Sanchez 2-4, 2R; C, Amos Ramon 2-4, 2B, 2RBIs; Cliff Pennington 1-4, RBI, R.

Matt Young can be reached at 886-3702 or youngm@caller.com

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