posted April 23 -

The Corpus Christi Miller Bucs were at Joe Hunter Field on Friday night to play the Trojan varsity and went back home with a relatively easy 7-1 victory over the Beeville nine.

“The snowball is rolling downhill and we can't stop it. The breaks are going the other teams’ way so it makes it that much harder,” said Trojan head coach Lance Standley. “We just have to keep fighting to end the season with a good taste in our mouth.”

The Trojans are now 1-7 in district play this year and 13-14 overall. Beeville closes out the season this week with two games. The Gregory-Portland Wildcats were in town on Tuesday evening and the Trojans will travel to Rockport on Friday to play the Pirates in the season finale. The first pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. in both contests.

The Bucs got two runs in the top of the third to break open a scoreless duel between Beeville hurler Eric Soza and Buc pitcher Johnny Garcia. The Trojans had a few chances early, but base running errors along with the inability to get a timely hit off the Miller right-hander left the hosts scoreless. Garcia rarely was in trouble, throwing a multitude of slow breaking balls with an occasional showing of his fastball to keep the Trojans off stride. Garcia allowed just five Beeville hits over his seven innings stint.

Soza threw well through the early innings. Miller’s first two runs were earned as the Bucs had three hits in the top of the third but he shut down the Miller team in the fourth and fifth before giving up two unearned runs in the top of the sixth. A couple of Beeville errors after a leadoff walk helped put the two runs on the scoreboard and gave the visiting Miller Bucs a 4-0 lead late in the game.

Richie Mendoza led off the Trojan sixth with a single to left and scored on an error on a ball to second base off the bat of Buck Pate. The Trojan rally died as Garcia got a fielder’s choice ground ball and a strikeout to end the inning.

Miller got three runs in the seventh off reliever Pate to raise the final score to 7-1. Garcia threw a strong one-two-three inning at the Trojans in the bottom of the seventh to secure the victory. Robby Horton, Matt Botello, Oscar Banda, Mendoza and Aaron Schanen collected the hits for Beeville.