*WO-S vs. Tarkington Playoff........WO-S ADVANCES!!!!!!!!!!*

[Homer]

WOS wins 7-3.  advance to regional quarters against Bryan Rudder or Orangefield.

[bmtball]

Great game Mustangs.  Sitting behind home plate was a great perspective to watch Zane Anderson pitch.  What a pitcher!  Nearly every ball had movement.  He rarely threw back to back fast balls. Tarkington never got a real solid stroke on the ball.  Darnall had a huge bomb too.  The most impressive thing though was the patience of the WO-S hitters.  They laid off the breaking balls and made Tarkington's pitcher throw them fast balls.  Which, for Darnall, paid off.  Way to go Coach Riojas and the rest of the Mustangs!!

[DaBears]

woden

[KFDM COOP]

Mustangs capture bi-district victory

Gabriel Pruett Orange Leader

BEAUMONT — 

The West Orange-Stark Mustangs proved Friday night they are not only satisfied with making the playoffs, they plan on sticking around.

The Mustangs defeated the Tarkington Longhorns 7-3 in the Class 3A Region III Bi-district playoffs at Beaumont West Brook High School.

Zane Anderson notched the win on the mound after hurling all seven innings. Anderson struck out eight batters, allowed seven hits and only walked one batter in the Mustangs’ first playoff game since 2005. WO-S has a bye through the area round and will meet either Orangefield or Rudder in the regional quarterfinals.

Anderson admitted after the game he did not have his best game Friday yet was excited WO-S got the win.

“The win was huge and it feels great,” Anderson said. “I hope I have better stuff next time out. My slider was flat but our defense works hard and they made some big plays behind me.”

The biggest play came in the bottom of the third with the game tied at 1-1.

WO-S coach Jesse Riojas elected to intentionally walk Tarkington’s Josh Consemiu with one out to load the bases.

The move worked as Consemiu hit a shot to Mustangs’ second baseman James Thomas who flipped to shortstop Justin Sparrow for the second out.

Sparrow then gunned to first baseman Clayton Gearhart to complete the 4-6-3 double play.

“JT and Sparrow made a great play,” Anderson said. “When Coach called for the walk, I started to think a little too much. I was able to make a pitch and the defense made the play. That is all I can ever ask for.”

Riojas said he is now 4-for-4 in that exact situation.

“Honestly we have done that play in the past,” Riojas said. “We walked (Jacob) Felts in that exact situation and it worked.”

The momentum switched as WO-S then scored three runs in the top of the fourth to grab a 4-1 lead.

Taylor Turley had a RBI single as did Anderson in the top of the fourth.

Jacory Finney had a RBI ground out.

Jordan Darnall provided a bit of offense in the top of the fifth with a two-run homer which scored Zach Drouillard.

Thomas scored WO-S’ last run when Sparrow had a sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh.

Sparrow scored in the top of the first after leading the game off with a single and moving all the way to third on two stolen bases.

Darnall picked up the RBI with a sacrifice fly to right.

“I have never been in this type of atmosphere,” Darnall said. “This is the best feeling in the world. We really were not nervous because we felt we had a great shot to win the game. We are ready to keep going and it is going to be a long week-and-a-half off between series.”

Riojas was proud to see his team respond in their first playoff series.

“I am not surprised by this win one bit,” Riojas said. “This team still has not reached their full potential. The main thing is we take pride in what we are doing. Tonight was awesome with the crowd cheering and how this team played. We are going to keep going regardless of who we play. We are going to enjoy this, rest up and then see who we got next.”

[East TX]

As a hopefully objective outsider just there to observe a local game, I was impressed at the improvement of the 'Stangs.  The third baseman will make a great college shortstop someday: he exhibits all the components!  In fact, the second baseman and first baseman also look like college prospects.
If Zane Anderson has a good night against Orangefield coming up: they have the coaching moxie and team skill to institute a major upset in Region III bracket play.

[tgreen]

Congrats to the stangs and coach riojas. that program really is taking big strides! good luck in the next series.

[CCSBASEBALL]

Congrats on a great job and good luck!

[baseballdude]

WOW! Coach Riojas has really been great with that program! Congrats to everyone at WOS

[TeamJagUS]

[quote name="baseballdude" post="799764" timestamp="1273390730"]
WOW! Coach Riojas has really been great with that program! Congrats to everyone at WOS
[/quote]

A good coach really can make a difference, I don't know what WOS was like before but looks like he's got them going in the right direction, and from his interview on kfdm along with a couple of players it's apparent that "making the playoffs" is not enough for those guys, they want to win and advance and that's exactly what they did. Good luck to them, the competition will be tough but that kind of heart and energy can win them some games against "more skill talented" opponents.

[Solo]

Congratulations to my old high school (class of '79).  I know two of the players, Turley and Sparrow, from little league and they are both great kids.  It is nice to see them, as well as the rest of the team, be successful.

[td]

[quote name="bmtball" post="799348" timestamp="1273286406"]
Great game Mustangs.  Sitting behind home plate was a great perspective to watch Zane Anderson pitch.  What a pitcher!  Nearly every ball had movement.  He rarely threw back to back fast balls. Tarkington never got a real solid stroke on the ball.  Darnall had a huge bomb too.  The most impressive thing though was the patience of the WO-S hitters.  They laid off the breaking balls and made Tarkington's pitcher throw them fast balls.  Which, for Darnall, paid off.  Way to go Coach Riojas and the rest of the Mustangs!!
[/quote]


I agree Zane threw a great game. Congrats also to whoever called the pitches. Way to mix it up.

[hawkeye07]

I am going to say the jury is still out on the programs improvement as far as I am concerned.  5-5 in district was good enough to get in but by no means a huge turn around as far as mustang baseball goes.

WOS has been finishing in or around third place for years.  Other mustang coaches that finished third (thompson, moore, westbrook, rivers) were not allowed to go to the playoffs by the UIL during those years.  Now they do.  Tarkington would have finished fifth or sixth in our district.  Now there is a bye.  I am holding back on labeling current operations ahead of those coaches mentioned before just yet.

[KFDM COOP]

Compared to the last few years their much better.

[PhatMack19]

[quote name="hawkeye07" post="800070" timestamp="1273508152"]
I am going to say the jury is still out on the programs improvement as far as I am concerned.  5-5 in district was good enough to get in but by no means a huge turn around as far as mustang baseball goes.

WOS has been finishing in or around third place for years.  Other mustang coaches that finished third (thompson, moore, westbrook, rivers) were not allowed to go to the playoffs by the UIL during those years.  Now they do.  Tarkington would have finished fifth or sixth in our district.  Now there is a bye.  I am holding back on labeling current operations ahead of those coaches mentioned before just yet.
[/quote]

4 of those district losses were to 2 of the better 3a teams in the state.  Rojas has WO-S headed in the right direction.