Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Sinton in familiar spot: 3A playoffs

Marketplace \| Services \| Contact Us \| Community \| Arts & Entertainment \| Local Guides

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Thursday, May 10, 2001
Sinton in familiar spot: 3A playoffs
Ninth-ranked Pirates in postseason for sixth straight season
By George Vondracek
Caller-Times
SINTON - The method, though maddening and frustrating for Sinton High School’s baseball players, cannot be questioned.
   Load up your early season schedule with quality opposition, take your lumps and end up in the Class 3A playoffs come May.
   Simple. But successful.
   The formula has worked for Gene Kasprzyk in all but two of his 15 years as the Pirates’ coach. This year was no exception, with such 5A and 4A playoff teams such as Belton, Calallen, Carroll, Floresville and Kerrville Tivy facing the Pirates. That doesn’t count other large schools such as Hays, Rockport-Fulton and Tuloso-Midway, along with 3A playoff entrants Falfurrias, George West and Odem.
   "A lot of people count us out early," said senior pitcher-first baseman Luis Cortez, one of two four-year letterman for Sinton. "We don’t face any of our classes or lower. We face tough competition to try and improve and not try to beat ourselves out there."
   Kasprzyk cringes at the potential bulletin-board fodder of Cortez’s statement. But there is no discounting the means by which Sinton earned its sixth straight playoff trip.
   No. 6 begins tonight. The ninth-ranked Pirates (21-6) face Bishop in the opener of a best-of-3 series at Bishop. The Badgers (22-6) are making their ninth straight postseason appearance and beat La Feria in a best-of-3 series last week.
   Since 1996, the Pirates have reached at least the Region IV-3A semifinals, advancing to state in 1999 for the third time under Kasprzyk.
   "We’re in a situation where we don’t drop down in non-district games because I don’t think it’s to our benefit," Kasprzyk said. "I don’t mean that to sound pompous. We’re trying to show them that when we’re playing top-quality teams, this is where we need to be and we’re not there yet."
   Sinton began the season 3-6. After last week’s 6-5 win over Floresville in a playoff warmup, the Pirates have won 18 straight ballgames, including a 14-0 run to the District 30-3A title.
   Sinton’s 18-game winning streak is the best in South Texas this year.
   "At first, it’s real frustrating, playing all those hard, No. 1 teams in 4A and 5A," said senior shortstop Emi Alaniz, Sinton’s other four-year letterman. "It’s frustrating getting pounded by them, but it’s good for the long run. Once we get through it, it’s good to show we can hang with the big ones."
   That philosophy isn’t lost on Rudy Gonzalez, Bishop’s ninth-year coach who spent three years as an assistant at Robstown. The Badgers squared off against 4A teams as Pharr-San Juan-Alamo, beaten in the first round by Alice, Roma, T-M, Flour Bluff, Kingsville and TAPPS 4A semifinalist IWA.
   "I know coach Kasprzyk real well. He does a super job. They’re always fundamentally sound," said Gonzalez, whose Badgers were second in 31-3A behind third-ranked Falfurrias. "The years I was at Robstown, he based his team on defense and pitching. They have played a tough schedule. We have, too. We’ played a bunch of 4As.
   "That’s where I picked up my philosophy. I’d rather be 0-10 and then go 10-0 in district to get to the playoffs."
   Pitching and defense have been the Sinton staples again. The Pirates are averaging a shade more than an error a game. Cortez (9-1) and sophomores Adrian Alaniz (4-0) and Jason Adams (5-1) have earned-run averages of 0.57, 0.54 and 2.48, respectively.
   The Sinton offense isn’t setting standards, with a team average of .298. The Alanizes have been at or above the .400 mark most of the year - they both enter the Bishop series with .423 averages. Junior third baseman Taylor Edwards has a .370 average, senior catcher Orlando Gutierrez has a .365 clip and Cortez is hitting .305.
   Yet the Pirates are averaging nearly 7.3 runs per game.
   "We started off pretty slow, but usually we start off that way," Emi Alaniz said. "We’ve played a lot of 4As and 5As. That’s what we’ve done to get to the playoffs. It’s worked every year."



Contact George Vondracek at 886-3731 or vondracekg@caller.com

| Talk about this story | Next Story | Home |

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

[ Printer-friendly version ]
[ Subscribe to newspaper ]

SEND THIS PAGE TO A FRIEND

[an error occurred while processing this directive]