Coyotes sweep away Rattlers

LA JOYA — The Coyote howl is loud and strong.

For the third time this season — including a District 30-5A two-game sweep — No. 3 La Joya defeated No. 2 Sharyland 4-2 on Friday night at La Joya.

With the Rattlers (19-6, 8-2) known as the baseball factory of the Rio Grande Valley, the season sweep is another boost of confidence for the surging Coyotes (24-3, 9-1).

“I thank God everyday that he has given us a really good team, because I firmly believe teams have to play their best to beat us this year,” La Joya coach Reuben Farias said. “We knew coming in that if we wanted a chance to play for the district title that we needed this game. And like our guys have done all season, they came to play tonight.”

Sharyland missed out on the chance to wrap up the outright district title with a victory, only having district bottom feeders McAllen Memorial and Donna left on the schedule.

La Joya, on the other hand, still must face McAllen High and Rio Grande City — a pair of playoff-bound teams — to conclude its regular season schedule. So even with the win, the District 30-5A championship is far from settled.

“You want to beat the No. 1 seed no matter what,” Sharyland coach Barton Bickerton said. “But you know, you lose to the same team twice in district and chances are that’s probably not going to happen. But like last time, they came through in the clutch.”

The Coyotes tagged starter Ismael Tijerina (6-3) for nine hits, six coming during the decisive four-run third. La Joya used a trio of softly hit singles from Cruz Garcia, Adrian Pena and Javier Acevedo to begin the inning with the bases loaded and no outs.

Olie Hinojosa followed with a run-scoring double play, then teammate Miguel Peña answered with a clutch two-out RBI single for a 2-0 advantage. Juan Martinez and Danny Zuniga sandwiched a pair of RBI doubles to left around Roy Garcia’s single to finish off the four-run inning that saw six of eight batters reach base on hits.

“We need to close out our schedule like we did this game,” said La Joya starter Miguel Peña (7-2), who pitched a complete game three-hitter while throwing 120 pitches and going 2-for-2 at the plate with an RBI. “Sharyland is always the team to beat, so when you beat them three times in one season, you must be doing something right.”

Sharyland’s only serious scoring threat came during the top of the fifth, when the Rattlers responded with two runs on one hit and a pair of errors. But with runners on second and third with no outs, Peña wiggled out of the jam with little damage.

“Two out hits killed us,” Bickerton said. “Ismael is our guy on the mound, but he has to close the door with two outs. Those two-out hits, as they normally do, did us in tonight.”

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Wade Baker covers high school baseball for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4450.