Rangers end playoff frustration

By Dave Rogers

Published May 3, 2008

The wind was blowing out at Ronnie Kluch Field Friday afternoon and, as far as Sterling’s baseball team was concerned, it was a wind of change.

Hunter Cervenka’s towering first-inning flyball began as a popup to shallow left. Then it looked like maybe it was deep enough to be a sacrifice fly.

Finally, as Deer Park outfielders Travis Fetgatter and Tyler Fetgatter stood at the left field fence and watched helplessly, it changed into a grand slam home run that was the big blow in the Rangers’ 7-1 bi-district win over the Deer.

It marked the first time Sterling has advanced beyond its opening playoff round since 1999. In fact, it was Sterling’s first post-season win since the Rangers’ 14-4 bi-district victory over Nimitz in May of 1999. Since then, they had gone 0-8 in playoff games.

“It feels good to get past our first round, finally,” said catcher Kevin Peters.

Peters collected two of the Rangers’ seven hits. Sterling’s 5-hole hitter singled to be the fifth of six straight hitters to reach base off Deer Park starter Brent Knight in the first inning. Jared Walters, courtesy running for Peters, scored the fifth Ranger run on Jonathan Fuller’s RBI groundout.

That 5-0 start was more than enough cushion as the Rangers improved to 25-3 on the season. The District 21-5A co-champions advance to next week’s area round, where they will face the winner of a best-of-three series between Clements and Clear Lake that wraps up today.

“Sterling is way too good to give them five” runs, Deer Park coach Ricky Crawford said, his fourth-place 22-5A club bowing out at 14-13.

“The first guy we pitched (Knight) had thrown better in the past. Dalton did a good job coming in and keeping it a game.”

Reliever Dalton Schafer, who came on after Knight failed to retire any of the six batters he faced, allowed two runs on four hits in six innings of work, striking out seven.

But the Deer could only touch Sterling’s Brett Marshall for one second-inning run, despite getting seven hits off the hard-throwing right-hander.

“He’s obviously a very good pitcher,” Crawford said of Marshall. “We just told our guys to compete at the plate. We just couldn’t get a two-out hit.”

Marshall, who struck out eight while improving to 8-1 on the season, lost his no-hit bid on the game’s first pitch, an opposite-field single by Britt Crawford. When designated hitter Mikey Clark singled up the middle, the Deer had runners at first and third with two out in the first.

Marshall struck out Deer Park shortstop Zach Schexnider to end the first.

After getting two quick outs in the second, Marshall surrendered three consecutive opposite-field singles to Travis Haight, Brandon Berss and Crawford and walked Knight to force in a run before striking out Schafer.

“I felt good the whole game,” Marshall said. “They were late on my fastball and hitting it through the hole. I couldn’t do much about it. They were grabbing it out of Kevin’s mitt.”

But that second-inning uprising only got Deer Park within four runs after the Rangers’ big first inning.

Sterling’s Trevor Swint hit a hopper over the third baseman for a leadoff single and Wright walked Derek Brooks and Marshall to load the bases for Cervenka. With a 1-2 count, the lefty swinger reached across the plate and got into – and under – Knight’s pitch.

“He didn’t get all of it,” Sterling coach Paul Tadlock said. “It was not going to be a home run any other day. It would have been in the outfield, no doubt.

“We were fortunate to have that good first inning, because the next guy (Schafer) came in and kept us off balance.”

Cervenka wasn’t available to talk about the hit. He was in a group of players who sprinted off the field and toward Sterling’s senior prom as soon as Landon Martinez and Jimmy Mott combined to get the game’s final out.

The Ranger coach said he thought the heat for a rare day game had affected his players negatively.

“I think it had a little effect on Brett’s fastball,” Tadlock said. “He didn’t have his best stuff, but he was still popping 89 to 92 (mph) pretty good and he was good enough to give up just one run.”

Marshall did not have a conventional three-up, three-down inning until the sixth, but got help from his defense. Peters threw out Haight trying to steal to end the fourth and third baseman Chance Smith turned in a stellar fifth-inning double play, diving to his left to snag a liner, then throwing to Mott to double up a runner at first.

Meanwhile, the Rangers added single runs in the fifth and sixth innings.

Brooks reached on a one-out walk in the fifth and should have scored on Marshall’s double, but slipped rounding third. He scored, instead, on Peters’ infield single.

Mott led off the sixth with his third homer of the season.

Deer Finish out District on Red Hot Win Streak

There is no question about just how much heart the Deer Park Varsity Baseball team has, and when the Deer dug in and proceeded to reel off four straight victories down the stretch they showed precisely how important was keeping their baseball season alive.

The never say die Deer battled their way into Friday’s Bi-District showdown with Baytown Sterling High School on precise pitching from Dalton Schafer, Brent Knight, and Hans Cook along with sound clutch hitting at the right times from guys like Zach Schexnider, Tyler Fetgatter, Mikey Clark and Britt Crawford along with Knight and Schafer.

The four game streak began with a little payback to the Trojans of South Houston who took a 3-1 victory in So Ho back in March.

The two teams second meeting on Deer soil proved to be all Dalton Schafer as he sat down 13 batters to hold off the Trojans till the bottom of the sixth inning when the Deer drove in four runs to take a 5-2 lead heading into the Trojans final at bat.

Schafer was rock solid on the hill and his team had his back defensively as the Deer secured a good momentum building victory over South Houston High School.

Brent Knight got the call from Coach Ricky Crawford to take the mound in a crucial game against rival La Porte High School which, needless to say, was taken a bit more personally by the Deer after La Porte put a 13-0 shutout on the board in their last meeting.

Not to let his fellow pitcher down, Knight would be a rock and fire inferno on mound recording seven strikeouts in a district brawl that went down to the wire in Bulldog Country.

In the final inning with the score tied 3-3 Deer Park’s Britt Crawford would drive home the game winning run to even their score with the Bulldogs on a 4-3 victory in the crunch.

The Deer returned to Kethan Field to host the Pasadena Eagles who, again, edged out the Deer by just one run in their previous district meeting. Not straying away from they’re mindset of payback; the Deer jumped out to an early lead and never relinquish it.

Dalton Schafer was a strike out technician on the mound again with nine strikeouts as the Deer downed the Eagles by a score of 6-1.

With three straight wins over teams that had previously beaten them, the Deer had one more series to split with the Pasadena Memorial Mavericks.

Memorial took it to the Deer in the opening inning with three early runs but the Deer kept sawing away at the Maverick lead until the top of the sixth when the Deer exploded offensively driving in seven runs to take a 9-5 lead heading into the Maverick’s final at bat.

Deer Park was able to hold off a determined Memorial team to take their fourth win in as many games to claim a spot in the postseason against Baytown Sterling this Friday at 3:30 p.m. which will take place at Baytown Sterling High School.

Coach Crawford had some very positive things to say about his group of determined ball players. “I’m very proud of my guys for digging deep and believing in themselves when it mattered most and they turned this whole thing around,” said Crawford. “Despite their struggles they still believed they could win and they did.”

During the four-game win streak many things began to come together for the Deer as Crawford explained. “They did all the little things they had to do down the stretch, guys stepped up with good hits in key situations. Guys like Zach Schexnider, Ty Fetgatter, Britt Crawford and Mikey Clark have stepped up and made contributions.”

As well as the bats heating up at the right time, the boys on the hill have been lights out and fearless, and Coach Crawford had some positive things to say about his pitchers during the four game stretch that earned the Deer their playoff berth.

“Our pitchers - Dalton Schafer, Brent Knight and Hans Cook - did exceptional jobs at making effective pitching in the right situations. Although we are not pleased with where we finished in district,” said Crawford, “a whole lot of credit goes to my group of guys who didn’t give up all season long; they could have packed it in when people had road us off and thought we couldn’t do it but this group played real Dirt Bag Baseball down the stretch and kept their season alive and into the playoffs.”

Crawford, with a proud smile, then added, “and anything can happen in the playoffs.”

The Deer certainly turned their district upside down after their impressive streak down the stretch. They will be looking to create a little more chaos in the post season as well as they are riding a wave momentum manufactured by solid pitching and hitting at the right times.

The Bi-District Playoff will begin at 3:30 p.m. at Baytown Sterling High School.

Article written by Mike Lara for the Deer Park Progress.

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