Eagle Pass Cal Ripken Baseball Majors/70 All-Stars Outlast Boonville, Missouri 4-3 in Pool Game No. 1 at Cal Ripken World Series
By: Ricardo E. Calderon, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2022
The Eagle Pass Cal Ripken Baseball Majors/70 All-Stars, competing as the Southwest Regional Champions, outlasted the Missouri State Champions from Boonville, Missouri 4-3 in Game One of Pool B play on Friday, August 5, 2022 at the Cal Ripken Baseball Majors/70 World Series in Branson, Missouri.
The Eagle Pass Cal Ripken Baseball All-Stars called upon the services of David Hernandez to hurl the first pool game, limiting the potent hitters from Boonville, Missouri to five hits, three runs, struck out 11, and walked one to earn the win. Hernandez was relieved by Izzaiah Chavarria for one inning and Mathan Cruz closed the final inning for Eagle Pass.
Eagle Pass started World Series play with a bang, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning to take an early 3-0 lead as David Hernandez received a base on balls, the next batter struck out, Jose Sanchez blasted an RBI double to left field to score Hernandez, Renato De La Garza belted an RBI single to left field to score Sanchez, Caleb Hernandez slammed an RBI double to left field with one out to score De La Garza. The next batter received a base on balls, but Boonville turned a double play to end the first inning on a ground ball to the infield.
The Boonville All-Stars rallied with one run in the top of the fourth inning and plated two runs in the fifth inning on a pair of errors to tie the game at 3-3 going into the final sixth inning.
Eagle Pass rallied in the bottom of the sixth inning to plate one run to earn the hard fought win over the Missouri State Champions 4-3 as Mathan Cruz got on base with two outs courtesy of a walk, Orly Chavarria received a walk, too, moving Chavarria to second base, Sebastian Camarillo was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Jaime Garcia with a three balls and two strikes count received a base on balls to score Cruz with the decisive winning run, earning an RBI for the walk as Eagle Pass players jumped in jubilation.
On offense for Eagle Pass, Jose Sanchez batted 1 for 3 with an RBI and scored one run, Renato De La Garza went 1 for 2 with an RBI and scored one run, and Caleb Hernandez was 1 for 3 with an RBI. De La Garza was named the Player of the Game.
Eagle Pass All-Stars are in Pool B of the World Series with the Missouri State Champions from Boonville, Missouri, the Southeast Regional Champions from Clemmons, North Carolina, the New England Regional Champions from Fairhaven-Acushnet, Maine, and the Ohio Valley Regional Champions from Crown Point, Indiana. They will play four pool games and the two teams with the best won-loss record advance to Bracket play against other first and second Pool teams.
There are 28 teams competing at the Cal Ripken Baseball Majors/70 World Series in Branson, Missouri, including 20 from the United States and eight from international countries. The World Series Championship game is scheduled on Saturday, August 13, 2022 at 7 p.m.
The Eagle Pass Cal Ripken Baseball Majors/70 All-Stars include Renato De La Garza, Jay Jacquez, Jose Sanchez, Orly Chavarria, David Hernandez, Mathan Cruz, Caleb Hernandez, Sebastian Camarillo, Robert Fernandez, Hiram Mauricio, Izzaiah Chavarria, and Jaime Garcia. Team Manager is Robert De La Garza and Assistant Coaches are Jose Sanchez, Orlando Chavarria, and Morris Libson, Jr.
This is the first time ever that an Eagle Pass Cal Ripken Baseball Majors/70 All-Stars team has qualified and participated at the Cal Ripken Baseball World Series in Branson, Missouri.
