LOCKNEY— After falling to Midland-Greenwood in the first of a three-game series on Thursday, it would have been easy to get discouraged and lose the motivation to play hard in the second game against the District 3-4A Champions.
But that’s not how this Pampa Harvesters (16-12-1) squad is made up. After dropping the first game 8-3, not only did the Harvesters come out and play hard, they dominated Midland-Greenwood in two straight games, 6-1 and 12-7, to take home the Bi-District Championship.
The series win was not only the first for the program since 2019, but also the first playoff series win for Head Coach Austin Samulowitz.
“It felt awesome,” Head Coach Austin Samulowitz said. “It was a huge relief off my shoulders as the head coach but more for this group of seniors to get the Gold Glove. They hadn’t gotten one yet their whole high school career.
“Beating Midland-Greenwood to get their first Gold Glove was awesome to watch. To see the smiles and excitement on their faces was something I’ll never forget.”
Winning Game 2 6-1
The Harvesters were the first to get on the board in Game 2, after Senior Isaiah Anguiano hit a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring senior Isaiah Estrada. Leading 1-0 in the top of the fourth, Junior Conner Hall hit a sac fly to right field, scoring junior Boston Botello.
In the top of the fifth, I. Anguiano opened the game up with a two-run homer to left field plating Junior Max Neff and giving Pampa the 4-0 lead. With bases loaded later in the frame, Hall grounded out but gave senior Brooks Barton the chance to score on a fielder’s choice.
I. Anguiano added to his cause with an RBI single in the top of the sixth to score junior Jarren Hill and give Pampa the commanding 6-0 lead and solidifying Game 2 for the win.
Game 3 win 12-7
The Harvesters wasted little time getting on the board in Game 3 with an RBI single from Barton to score Hill and give Pampa the early 1-0 lead. The Harvesters later scored on an error in the top of the second when Neff hit a ground ball to score senior Noah Anguiano on the play.
Midland-Greenwood added a pair of runs to take the 3-2 lead, but a dropped third strike in the fourth allowed Isaiah Estrada to score and tie the game.
The Harvesters opened the game up in the top of the fifth. Senior Judsen Hancock hit a lead-off single to get on base. Two batters and one out later N. Anguiano drew a walk, followed by a walk by senior Chace McLaughlin to load the bases. Estrada drew an RBI walk, followed by an error-inducing hit by Neff. The Harvesters now led 5-3 with bases loaded, Hill hit an RBI single to score Estrada and McLaughlin. I. Anguiano and Barton hit a double each to extend the Harvesters’ lead to 10-3.
The Harvesters added one more run in the frame when N. Anguiano reached on a wild pitch and Barton scored to make it 11-3.
Neff hit an RBI double in the top of the sixth to extend Pampa’s lead to 12-5 and the Harvesters continued to hold off the Rangers for the final score of 12-7.
“We just came out and played good baseball,” Samulowitz said. “Any given day anybody can beat anybody. It’s baseball. We came out with Isaiah Anguiano on the bump and he came out and shoved it. He had a two-week break to rest his arm and it showed. He was fresh. He pitched a really good first game on Friday.
“Then our young sophomore came out and did an awesome job in the last game. Offensively, our bats woke up. We were hitting and getting on base, hit by pitches and put a lot of pressure on Midland-Greenwood that I don’t think they expected. So we kind of hit them in the mouth and they didn’t respond well to it.”
The Harvesters return to action on Thursday as they travel to Andrews to take on El Paso-Riverside in the Area round of the playoffs. Thursday’s game will be at 6 p.m., followed by Friday at noon for Game 2 with Game 3, if necessary to follow.
“El Paso-Riverside played in a tournament with almost all of our District teams,” Samulowitz said. “Talking to them (other District coaches), they said they can swing it really well. They may not be over-powering on the mound or defensively, but they can swing it. Our focus this week is going to be to keep them off-balance and play good defense and see if we can make something happen again.”
As for if Coach Samulowitz is worried about the duration of these road trips for the playoffs affecting the players’ energy, not at all.
“There’s no losing their energy at this point,” Samulowitz said. “These guys haven’t had a ton of success throughout their high school careers, so now that they are having success, they are eating it up. They could travel to Florida and not care. The energy and support they are getting around town right now is special to them. They are having the time of their lives and I’m having fun, too.”
All three games will be on Harvesters Sports Network and Legends Classic Hits 95.9 FM with Zac Green on the call.
Unofficial stats Game 1
Junior Max Neff had a walk; Junior Jarren Hill had two walks and a run scored; Senior Isaiah Anguiano had a walk and a stolen base; Senior Brooks Barton went 1-3 with a run scored, an RBI, a double and a walk; Senior Judsen Hancock had a run scored and a walk; Junior Conner Hall had a walk; Senior Noah Anguiano had a hit by pitch; Senior Isaiah Estrada had an RBI and Sophomore Jaime Soto had a walk.
Barton pitched five innings with four hits, two runs, one earned run, five walks and six strikeouts; Isaiah Estrada pitched 1.1 innings with four hits, six runs, two earned runs, three walks and a strikeout; Junior Greyson Paronto went .2 innings.
Unofficial stats Game 2
Junior Max Neff went 1-3 with a run scored and two walks; Junior Jarren Hill went 1-3 with a walk, a stolen base and a run scored; Senior Isaiah Anguiano went 3-3 with a home run, four RBI and one run scored; Senior Brooks Barton drew a walk, and had a run scored; Junior Boston Botello went 1-2 with a double, two hit by pitches and a run scored; Junior Conner Hall went 1-3 with two RBI; Senior Noah Anguiano drew a walk and was hit by a pitch; Junior Clayton Rodgers had a stolen base and Senior Isaiah Estrada had a run scored.
Isaiah Anguiano went the distance pitching seven innings with four hits, one run, four walks and three strikeouts.
Unofficial stats Game 3
Neff went 1-5 with two RBI, a double and one run scored; Hill went 1-3 with two runs scored, a stolen base, a double, two RBI and two walks; Isaiah Anguiano went 1-4 with a run scored, a double, three RBI and one walk; Brooks Barton went 2-4 with one run scored, two RBI and a walk; Botello had a stolen base; Judsen Hancock went 1-5 with a run scored; Noah Anguiano had a run scored, an RBI, was hit by a pitch and two walks; Clayton Rodgers had a run scored; McLaughlin went 1-4 with a run scored and a walk; and Estrada had three runs scored, one RBI, a stolen base, a hit by pitch and two walks.
Jaime Soto pitched six innings with five hits, seven runs, four earned runs, six walks and one strikeout; Estrada pitched one inning with two strikeouts.
