The varsity baseball team won three out of four games at the Canyon Lake Tournament in preparation for Tuesday’s district opener against LBJ, 7 p.m. Tuesday at Northwest Park. At 10-3-1, the young varsity team has answered some of the offseason questions that many observers had about the young team. A young pitching staff has stepped up admirably to fill the considerable hole left by the graduation of ace pitchers Eric Worden, Mason Bryant and Cole Ross.  Ace Dietz (1-1 with a 3.73 earned run average and 10 strikeouts in three starts) was a known varsity quantity on the mound, but he has been joined by several young hurlers who have stepped up to the challenge of maintaining the McCallum baseball tradition.

Sophomore Yzmael Izquierdo is 3-0 with 17 strikeouts in three complete games where he has allowed only two earned runs. Freshman Diego Barraz has been nearly as good, going 2-0 in three starts with 10 strikeout and a 2.10 ERA. Junior Marc Juarez is also 2-0 after a pair of starts in which he’s only given up one earned run. Relief pitcher Ethan Vandament has been very good out of the pen. In five appearances, he’s compiled a 2-0 record with 14 strikouts and a 1.75 earned run average.

The pitching stats are nice, but what’s nicer is that first-year Mac head coach Brandon Grant clearly has depth and many options as his team heads into district play.

At the plate, the team has had a balanced attack with different players coming through on different nights. Six players currently have averages above 0.300, and two more are a good day at the plate away from joining them. Sophomore Jacob Masters currently leads the team in batting average at 0.436 and in runs batted in with 14. Fellow sophomore Trinidad De La Garza is right behind him at 0.425 with 8 RBI’s and 13 runs scored.

Below is a rundown of the team’s games this past weekend at the Canyon Lake Tournament.

GAME 4: MAC 6, CANYON LAKE 3 (Saturday): Trailing 2-1 after two innings, the Knights roared back to defeated the host Hawks, 6-3, behind solid pitching from the tandem of Fabian Castillo and Jacob Masters. Castillo struck out five and walked four while allowing two unearned runs over five innings. The win gives the Knights 10 wins on the season against three losses and a tie. The Knights scored three runs in the fourth inning when the Knights effectively played small ball by stringing together singles by Cole Davis, Charlie Joe Owen, Jacob Castillo and Ethan Vandament. File photo by Dave Winter.

GAME 3: MAC 6, BRACKENRIDGE 0 (Friday): Diego Barraz and Cole Davis combined on a two-hit shutout as the Knights returned to the win column with a 6-0 victory over San Antonio Breckenridge. Both pitchers struck our four Eagle hitters. Davis also was 2-for-3 in the game with a stolen base and two runs scored. Alec Worden doubled in the game, and Trinidad de la Garza tripled. File photo by Molly Gardner.

GAME 2: JARRELL 9, MAC 8 (Friday): The Cougars ralled from an 8-5 deficit with four unanswered runs, three of them in their last at bat as the Knights lost a close one in a walk-off. Five Knight players doubled in the game, and Jacob Castillas and Easton Salinas each had a pair of RBI’s. Castillo also stole two bases. Jacob Masters took the tough-luck loss. File photo by Molly Gardner.

GAME 1: MAC 3, FLOWER BLUFF 2 (Thursday): Sophomore Yzmael Izquierdo threw another complete-game victory, this time with eight strikeouts, and Alec Worden hit the team’s first home run of the season as the Knights came from two runs down to edge Corpus Christi Flour Bluff, 3-2, in Game 1 at the Canyon Lake Tournament today. Ethan Vandament hit an RBI double and came around to score the winning run in the game. File photo by Molly Gardner.

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