Poth pulls away late to top cowboys in playoffs

By Manuel Azocar III - Sports Writer/Managing Editor | May 11, 2023

BI-DISTRICT BASEBALL PLAYOFFS

COWBOYS TIE SERIES WITH 7-1 WIN BUT PIRATES RALLY IN THIRD GAME TO TAKE BI-DISTRICT PLAYOFF

Dylan Martinez

Senior Fidel Yanez scoops up a grounder and fires to first.

Poth battled back late and held off Cotulla in two of three outings to claim the bi-district best-of-three baseball series last weekend in Somerset.
The Pirates won Games 1 (7-4) and 3 (11-4) in the series to advance to the area round of the playoffs. Cotulla routed Poth 7-1 in Game 2 to set up the third and deciding contest on Saturday at noon.
“The boys worked hard all season to earn a playoff spot and we played hard in all three games and gave ourselves a chance to win,” CHS Head Coach Joe Gonzales said. “Coming into the playoffs as the four seed, we were matched up with Poth who won their district.
“We gave them three tough games and made it hard on them. I’m extremely proud as each student athlete stepped up throughout the series and gave it their all. The pitching staff gave it everything they had with Dylan Martinez and Traein Garcia, who earned the win in game two, both throwing complete games.”
Poth pulled out to a quick 5-0 lead in game one, plating a run in the second, one in the third and three in the fourth inning. Cotulla chipped away at the lead, scoring a run in the fifth and three in the sixth to cut the Pirates lead to one at 5-4.
Martinez singled to score a run while Andrew Salazar also singled to reach base but a throwing error by Poth allowed a pair of runs to score.
Two runs at the bottom of the sixth extended the Poth lead and the Pirates then held defensively to pull away for the 7-4 victory.
The Cowboys managed to put two runs on with no outs but the Pirates forced Cotulla in groundouts to end the threat. Poth finished with six hits while limiting Cotulla to only two in the win. The Cowboys also committed one more error than the Pirates.
In a tight game two, Cotulla plated a run in the first for a quick 1-0 lead. The two went scoreless in the third and fourth until the Cowboys added a pair of runs at the top of the fourth. Poth countered with a run at the bottom of the stanza but Cotulla added two more runs in the sixth and two in the seventh to pull away for the win. With Garcia in control on the mound, Cotulla cruised to the 7-1 decision behind a six-hit, one error effort.
Errors Cotulla did not make in their game two victory proved costly in game three as the team totaled seven miscues in the field.
Despite the errors, Cotulla jumped out to a 3-0 first inning lead. Poth answered with a run in the second and then added six runs in the third and fourth innings as they surged ahead 7-3. The Cowboys added a run in the sixth to cut into the lead at 7-4 but Poth pulled away with four runs at the bottom of the inning to seal the win.
The Pirates finished with eight hits and committed only a single error while Cotulla belted out seven hits but also struggled with seven errors.
Poth now moves on to the area round of the playoffs and will take on Industrial this week.
Cotulla closes out its season with a mark of 13-11 overall and 4-6 fourth place finish in District 28-3A, earning its first playoff berth since the 2019 season.