The second week of the baseball season took place just as March was beginning. However, the turn of the month was not welcome, as the Mavs struggled on their home field. After a great first tournament, they tied in Game 1, before losing the last four of the weekend, sending the Mavs into their first district game with mixed messages.
The tournament opened up on Thursday, where McNeil was set to take on Reagan, in town from San Antonio. It was a pitching duel Thursday afternoon, as senior Pierce Stone was throwing a gem, and sophomore Tyler Schwarz had four hits, but the rest of the offense couldn’t get the bats going and the Mavs found themselves behind early. It would stay that way until the seventh inning, when down 3-1, the top of the lineup would scratch two runs across the board to tie the game at 3-3, but the Mavs couldn’t get any more, ending the game in a tie.
The second game of the day took place against Buda Johnson, and was similar to the first game. Senior pitcher Nathanael Schraeder was pitching masterfully, striking out 11 opposing batters and keeping his team in the game. However, similar to the first game, the offense couldn’t get going, and this time there would be no tie, as the Mavs found themselves in too much of a deficit to come back from, losing the game Thursday night.
Going into Friday afternoon, the expectations were high for the Mavs as they faced two opponents they believed they could beat, starting with Wimberly. However, things didn’t quite go as planned. Wimberly crushed the McNeil pitching, scoring 15 runs in a 15-6 rout, as the bats for the Mavs were a little better, but still not enough to get a win.
McNeil then had a better opponent in the evening, as Lake Belton was visiting. This was the most competitive game of the weekend. After a scoreless first, the Mavs were able to get a run on the board in the second, taking a 1-0 lead. On the mound, sophomore John Salas was pitching fantastically, holding Lake Belton scoreless through four innings. However, in the fifth inning, the Broncos broke through against the relief pitching, as they scored five runs in the fifth, and four in the seventh. McNeil would get one more, but the game ended 9-2, handing the Mavs their third straight loss.
The second week of the season came to an end on Saturday afternoon when a depleted McNeil team hosted Lake Travis. The Cavaliers dominated from start to finish, hitting the ball all over the field and scoring in almost every inning while shutting down the McNeil offense to win 14-0. The Mavs will try to shake off this tournament and look forward to the first game of the season that actually counts. Despite how the first few days of March went, hopes for the year are still high.
