Pace Packs Early Punch To Top #1 TERRA

Andres Sanchez shined Wednesday night, and it wasn’t just because of his neon green batting gloves.

After throwing out a runner in the top of the first, the Monsignor Pace sophomore catcher drilled a three-run home run in the bottom half of the inning. This helped pace his team as the Spartans cooled off visiting TERRA Institute, 10-5, in a non-district game.

“I was on a little down-streak and I got the neon batting gloves and I started hitting, so I just keep them going. They go good with the black uniforms,” said Sanchez, who hit the ball hard all night and finished 3-for-4 with four RBIs.

Sanchez hit his first home run of the season last week against St. Brendan. Number two came Wednesday on an outside fastball that he pulled over the left field fence, a good sign for Pace (9-5) considering Sanchez’s duties have increased behind the plate due to an early-season injury to catcher Elliott Cutillas.

“Andres was our leading hitter as a freshman last year,” said Pace Manager Tom Duffin. “This year he started off a little slow because last year he wasn’t catching everyday. Our starting catcher went down with an injury early on, so he’s had to catch the whole load. I think it’s taken him awhile to get used to the rigors of catching everyday. The last couple games he’s started to pick it up.”

TERRA (11-2) saw its 10-game winning streak snapped.

“We’ve been playing well and we’ve been pitching well. Today the ball didn’t go our way, but we lost to a great program,” TERRA Manager Ernie Padron said. “Coach Duffin does a great job. I knew we were in for a dogfight. These guys played their hearts out. Pace was definitely the better team tonight.”

Pace’s lead grew to 5-0 in the third when Lorenzo Hampton’s deep sacrifice fly brought home courtesy runner Justin Ledesma. Anthony Boix then ripped an RBI single up the middle that scored Eddie Cutillas.

In the fifth, Pace opened up an 8-2 cushion when Jonathan Reyes-Diaz sliced an opposite-field, bases-loaded triple into the right field corner. Two of the runners that scored were put on by intentional walks.

“You got to love that because they feel you’re going to be an easier out, and you come through,” Duffin said. “It’s always good for the confidence, and that was pretty much the dagger. He needed it because he’s been struggling. He’s a great defensive player; right now he’s trying to find his way at the plate. I was really happy to see him get that hit.”

Pace starter Peter Diaz tossed four innings of four-hit ball with two strikeouts, one walk and no earned runs. Hampton pitched two scoreless innings of no-hit ball and Matthew Darder finished up in the seventh.

With the exception of a shaky fourth inning, Pace played solid in the field, led by shortstop Jorge Arenas, who displayed vast range in both directions and a quick release by twice robbing Lucas Perez of what appeared to be sure base hits on deep grounders.

TERRA capitalized on three Pace errors in the fourth and received an RBI sacrifice fly from Alec Ulloa. That narrowed the gap to 5-2, before the Spartans pulled away again.

TERRA southpaw Joe Sanchez, who entered the night with a 0.91 ERA, suffered his first loss after four wins.
Yasser Santana and Ozzie Millet had RBI doubles in the seventh for TERRA, which doesn’t plan to dwell on the setback.

“We turn the page and get ready for the game tomorrow,” Padron said.

Leave a comment using your facebook account!