While Garcia kept the Eagle bats at bay for most of the evening, allowing only three hits all night, the Eagles hit the ball much harder than the Panthers did with much different results as the top of the Eagle Order Eric Gonzalez, Devon Torres, Diego Gaona, Mando Lopez, and Juan Lopez all got good wood on balls which ended up in what seemed to be magnetic gloves of the Panther 'D'.

The dominant O'Connor hurler was not even close to the dominating performance Torres had on the unorthodox and highly suspect pitching mound which Marco and Frankie Lopez, two of the many Ex-Eagles on hand to witness this classic observantly made of the hill as Devon notched six impressive K's throughout the game including the first hitter he faced in the game which this reporter hoped that would be the case, getting the panthers out in the first and hoping the top of the Eagle lineup could scratch across a run in that opening frame.  Torres adjusted to the mound height and even struck out Mark Ecker, the Texas A&M signee who went 3 for 4 in this game in a DH role as he is the ace of the club, but a tender elbow had kept him out of the last two series. 

Justin Garcia on the other hand, despite his 12-1 record was unable to get even one strikeout on the Eagle hitters as the sixth Eagle Pass team to make the Regional Final.

Eagle Pass Sports Central's Conrad Perez stated, "I can't speak for everyone, but for us who played in the old days, how many teams are wishing they were here," citing that when you reach this level, you're going to see some outstanding plays which this game had in bunches such as the rope thrown by left fielder Kent Corso to catcher Gavin Johnson to get a streaking Alex Martinez at home on another big time hit by Fab Frosh Mando Lopez in the fourth.

"You can't play it the way you play it the rest of the year because those chances don't come around very often," added Perez, "If your struggling at the plate, you have to send him," about the play which could've been the run which would have made it a tie when Diego Gaona came up to hit in the bottom of the seventh with bases loaded and two out.

Javy Cardona was on second earlier when Eric Gonzalez who had a quality at bat sent a shot to left which was snagged by Corso for the second out of the inning, but Jacoup Roiz and Devon Torres, who both almost got hit by Garcia pitches loaded up the bases for the Eagles.

"If someone had told me that we could have the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh, two outs and our best hitter at the plate, I would've taken it all day," stated a proud, notably emotional Reynol Mendoza after the game, "We just came up a little short," as Gaona who had gone yard in the sixth inning with a 312 foot homer, a solo shot which would've been his second of the game as he almost knocked it out in the first inning and hit the ball hard again later in the game, but his final at bat, a veritable battle against Jose Rodriguez, the Panther shortstop who was throwing 90 MPH fastballs at Diego which he proceeded to foul off time after time after time as Gaona was totally on the ball and was not going to allow the home plate umpire to dictate the fate of his Fightin' Eagle Pass Eagles when he skied a 3-2 fastball foul to Justin Garcia at third base which took forever to come down in the 15-20 MPH wind which seemed to move the ball away from Garcia who made the game winning catch falling to the turf at the Virgil T. Blossom Baseball Complex.

Panther Head Coach David Collenback had this to say about our boys, "I know Coach Mendoza from his days in middle school and he is a competitor, I know he and his team are hurting right now, but they have nothing to hang their heads about, they gave us all we could handle."

When asked about the big defensive plays his team made he said, "When you play a team like Eagle Pass, you can't afford to give them anything and believe me, they hit the ball hard today, we had to work for this win," as they will move on to face either The Woodlands or Rockwall in the first round of the State Tournament. 

For the Panthers it was three runs on eight hits and two errors.  For the Eagles it was two runs on three hits and one error.

Gilbert Villalobos was 1 for 1 with 1 RBI, Mando Lopez went 1 for 3, and Diego Gaona 1 for 4 with 1 run scored and 1 RBI on his solo homerun and Javy Cardona also scored for the Eagles.

For the Panthers Mark Ecker was 3 for 4 with 1 run scored and 1 RBI, Zachary Galm went 2 for 3 with 1 RBI, Gavin Johnson was 1 for 3, Zachary Davenport hit 1 for 3 with 1 run scored, Kent Corso was 1 for 2, and Andrew Fields 1 scored a run in the third.

Thanks to Sheriff Schmerber the Eagles received a hero's welcome as they were escorted into town by the Maverick County Sheriff's Department at 2:15 AM.

The Eagle Pass News Gram salutes the Eagle Pass Eagles, their coaching staff and parents on an exceptional performance in representing our community more than admirably as they came as close as you can come to winning this beautiful game of baseball which many a player will tell you is a game of inches and also joins EPHS in wishing Principal Rudy Bowles, who graciously addressed the team after the game,  a much deserved retirement after a stellar athletic and academic career.