Thursday, March 12, 2020 – 8:25 text from Kelly Parker – “McAllen is unable to come to the tournament. Alexander vs McAllen at 7:30 tonight canceled.”
Thus began one of the most chaotic tournaments ever attempted. I was entering the baseball stadium at the Blossom Athletic Center, preparing to broadcast the Fourth San Antonio Classic Baseball Tournament. The Classic was helmed by Kelly Parker, at the time an Associate Athletic Director for the North East Independent School District. The Classic includes many elite teams throughout the state, and I am privileged to be its lead broadcaster.
I knew going into the week it would be hectic. Along with broadcasting 12 games of the Classic, I was planning to broadcast two games of UTSA’s home baseball series against the Charlotte 49ers. On top of that, I had helped with a major rollout of new Xerox machines at a nearby school district as part of my day job.
Then, on Wednesday the 11th came the Cancellation Heard ‘Round the World. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver shut down the association due to a player testing positive for the new coronavirus. McAllen’s withdrawal Thursday morning was the first ripple to hit the Classic. McAllen featured one of the best players in the state, Aaron Nixon, who was committed to play at Texas. Laredo Alexander featured Paco Hernandez, who is committed to play at Oklahoma State. That draw was now gone; although McAllen would play some hastily arranged games in the Rio Grande Valley that weekend, they would not be a part of the Classic, and one broadcast was scrubbed from the schedule.
For the moment, there were still four games for me to broadcast that day, starting with San Antonio Reagan vs El Paso Franklin. Reagan had played in the state championship game three of the previous six years and was ranked #1 in the state in 6A, the UIL’s highest classification. Their coach, Chans Chapman, and I have known each other for 17 years, and it was great to catch up. El Paso Franklin was coached by Ruben Munoz Jr, who had hired his father Ruben Munoz Sr as his assistant. I got to ask Munoz about having his dad working for HIM, and how this was one part wonderful family bonding and one part revenge fantasy. Munoz Jr enjoyed describing the dynamic; it was everything you would hope for them it could be.
Once I got back to the press box, more news arrived.
Thursday, March 12, 2020 – 9:13 text from Kelly Parker – “Alexander and United have also dropped out.”
The two Laredo schools in the Classic, each of whom have been to the State Tournament within the last 12 years, had also withdrawn. This was disappointing, but since Alexander-McAllen was already been canceled, it didn’t appear to impact the broadcast schedule. Ultimately, however, it led to scheduling changes that would have forced me to be in two places at the same time. Thankfully, Ralph Judkins agreed at the last minute to cover New Braunfels Canyon vs Corpus Christi King for me.
3-12-10:41 MRK to Ralph - Three teams (have) dropped out of the San Antonio Classic, leading to schedule changes. There’s a game I now can’t get to at 2:30 between Corpus Christi King and New Braunfels Canyon. Can you do that game? It’s at Northeast Sports Park.
Ralph: What Day?
Ralph: And What Time?
Mark: Today at 2:30!
Ralph: Yeah, sure! Not doing anything else.
It helped that this year, the Classic took place during Spring Break.
Also as a result of the changes, I added El Paso Franklin vs Clemens to the schedule, the fourth game at Blossom, at the last minute so we could meet our quota of games to broadcast.
Also, I received word that UTSA had suspended all sporting events, including the baseball games against Charlotte. The 49ers never left North Carolina.
Even so, Friday held great promise, with three great games on the docket. There would be no college baseball for me to broadcast, but we would begin the Classic with San Antonio Johnson (state finalist in 2016) vs three-time state champion Corpus Christi Calallen, and finish with Lake Travis (fresh off a state tournament appearance) and Boerne. In between would be the game on the month for the entire state: the Reagan Rattlers (#1 in the state in 6A) against the Corpus Christi Veterans Memorial Eagles (#1 in the state in 5A).
Johnson ended up defeating Calallen 6-2, taking command of the game with a 2-run fourth inning and a 3-run fifth. Perhaps that game didn’t live up to expectations. The next one did.
#1 vs #1 is plenty of an attraction as it is, but the rivalry between the coaches added to the atmosphere. Reagan and CC Veterans have never met in the playoffs because they play in different classifications, but when Vets coach Lee Yeager was at Corpus Christi Carroll, his teams and Chapman’s Reagan teams met in the playoffs four times in six years, with Carroll winning three of the matchups. Two great teams, two great coaches with a history against each other… this was as good as high school tournament baseball gets.
The pitchers were a study in contrasts. Reagan’s J.T. Moeller, who’ll play at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi next year, pitches to contact and depends on an athletic defense. CC Vets’ Jose Acuna, who will play for Texas Tech, tries to overpower hitters, even if it means he throws pitches out of the strike zone.
Each team got runners on base each inning, but couldn’t score. It helped the pitchers that CC Vets only got the leadoff man on base twice, and Reagan only got their leadoff man on base once.
CC Vets (look, I’m NOT typing “Corpus Christi Veterans Memorial” this whole blog, even with cut-and-paste as a tool) left two runners on base in the first, third, and fifth innings, and once each the rest of the game.
The Eagles got three runners to third base. In the third, Kobe Andrade (Texas A&M-College Station) hit a one-out double; after Daylan Pena (Texas State) was hit by a pitch, M.J. Rodriguez (Oklahoma State) grounded out to second, advancing both runners. Moeller escaped the inning by getting Anthony Guerrero to hit a fly ball to center.
Jake Rabe of the Eagles led off the fourth with a single up the middle. One out later, Jacob Gonzales singled to advance Rabe to third. Eagles coach Lee Yeager, employing an age-old tactic to force defensive mistakes, called for a hit-and-run; it backfired when J.T. Zepeda hit a line drive to shortstop Travis Sthele, who'll pitch for UT-Austin next year; Sthele threw to first to easily double up Gonzales’ courtesy runner Carter Senterfitt, ending the inning.
The Eagles’ biggest threat, which had the Reagan faithful chewing fingernails, came in the fifth, the type on inning that shows how baseball rewards scrutiny as much as any sport. Xavier Perez led off with a single to center; Andrade then reached on the game’s only error. Pena then hit a deep grounder to short. He reached with an infield single, loading the bases, but Sthele (pronounced Staley) had fielded the ball before it made it to the outfield.
This play does not register in a scorebook, but coaches know it saved a run. At least for the time being. CC Vets still had the bases loaded with nobody out, so Reagan had to draw the infield in to better prevent a run scoring on a grounder. Sthele came through again; Rodriguez hit a grounder to shortstop, and Sthele threw to the catcher Ryan Beaird (UTSA) to get the force out on Perez.
CC Vets was still in a great position to take the lead, with the bases loaded and only one out, but Moeller again escaped the threat with a double play. This time, Guerrero hit a grounder to third baseman Jacob Burcham (Tarleton State), who threw Beaird to get the force at the plate, who then threw to Luke Hoggatt at first base to complete the double play, and keep the game scoreless.
Moeller gave up nine hits in six innings and only struck out one batter, but he walked none, hit only one batter, and had a knack for getting the outs he needed.
Jose Acuna, by contrast, allowed only one hit, but needed a lot of pitches to get out of trouble. Reagan took a lot of pitches against Acuna, a big lefty who much of the game trying to throw pitches past hitters. While the optimal number of pitches for a pitcher per inning is 15, Acuna needed 18 to get through the first, 25 to get through the second, and 34 to get through the third. Although Reagan never got the leadoff man aboard, they got the second man on base each of the first six innings. Reagan managed to get a runner to second each of those innings, but never got a runner to third.
After the fifth inning, the public address at North East Sports Park spread news. The UIL had ruled that due to the coronavirus, all baseball would be stopped throughout the state. The scoreless contest between CC Vets and Reagan would continue, but would be the last game of the San Antonio Classic. (Ironically, Ralph was scheduled to broadcast Reagan vs Clemens that day. After stepping in a the last minute on Thursday, he saw his regularly scheduled Friday broadcast canceled.)
Moeller (pronounced Miller) gave up a two-out single to Gonzales in the sixth; it was Gonzales’ third hit, but resulted in no runs.
Acuna had thrown 102 pitches through 5 innings; with only 8 more pitches allowed by rule, Acuna was pulled for Paris Junior College bound Matthew Krall. Krall struck out two Rattlers in the sixth; he hit Stayton Ankrom with a pitch (Ankrom is former TCU star and Dallas Cowboy Scott Ankrom’s son), but then Krall threw out Ankrom trying to steal, helping keep the game scoreless.
One more announcement carried over the speakers at North East Sports Park: the seventh inning of this game would be the last. Kelly dropped by to check on me; he was clearly disappointed.
While Acuna needed 102 pitches to get through five innings, J.T. Moeller needed just 71 pitches to get through six innings, however suspenseful those innings were. Nonetheless, Moeller left the mound (he went to play left field) so Will Carsten could pitch the seventh.
In March, Carsten was a lad with options. At the time, he was still deciding whether to play college baseball or college basketball. (He will pitch at McLennan Junior College next year.) Carsten was scheduled to pitch a game later that day against Clemens, but once word got out that the rest of the tournament was canceled, he asked if he could pitch in this game… because who knew when he’d get his next chance to pitch?
At 6’8, Carsten certainly has a presence on the pitching mound. While Moeller struck out just one batter, Carsten struck out the first two he faced. Pena did single against Carsten – Pena’s third hit of the day – but Carsten retired Rodriguez on a groundout to Hoggatt to keep the Eagles scoreless.
Having completed the top of the seventh, we now knew the Eagles could not possibly win. The best they could do is tie. Concern began when Krall’s first pitch of the seventh hit Hogan Heller (who’ll play at New Mexico in two years); it was the first time the leadoff man reached for Reagan. Hoggatt, who had mastered sacrificing in 2020, bunted Heller to second.
Krall struck out pinch hitter Pedro Ryan for the second out, but Burcham hit a chopper high enough that by the time it landed in Krall’s glove, Burcham was at first and Heller’s pinch runner Britt Moore was at third.
Zane Raba, who’ll play for Navy, however, hit a grounder to second baseman J.T. Zepeda. He threw to first baseman Rodriguez to retire Raba and end the game.
Eighteen runners left on base – and the game between two of the best high school baseball teams in Texas ended in a scoreless tie. In a way, it seems appropriate.
At the time, it was clear there would be no high school baseball for some time. We didn’t know the rest of the high school (and college) season would be canceled.
Kelly Parker is now the Executive Athletic Director at NEISD, replacing the retired Karen Funk. Also, summer leagues have played baseball, and now the major leagues are beginning play.
I hope they make it work. It is imperative that people be kept safe, but hopefully we’re finding ways to stay safe and conduct events. We must proceed with caution, but I do hope we can proceed.
I hope that while we’re trying to stay alive, we can all find a way to keep on living.
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