A multitude of hits allowed the Eagles to place some distance between themselves and Hanna en route to a 7-3 victory.

     “Devon Torres pitched very well and gave us all he had,” Mendoza said. “He kept us in the game, got us out of jams. Overall, we made 17 hits as a team. Almost everyone on our batting lineup had two hits, and made a lot of clutch hits in the sixth inning when we needed them.”

     Versus Hanna, EPHS’s lineup consisted of lead off hitter Eric Gonzalez, Devon Torres, Diego Gaona, Mando Lopez, Juan Lopez, R.J. Ruiz, Javi Cardona, Jacoup Roiz, and Kevin Chisum.

     Mendoza said the area playoff being reduced from a best of three series to just one raised the stakes for both teams. 

     “It definitely put more pressure on us because it all came down to one game – all or nothing,” Mendoza said. “Initially we did not want a one-game playoff, we instead wanted a best of three series. When the rain came down, we tried to wait it out and see if we could play afterwards, but the conditions did not allow. So we had to settle for one game, and anything can happen in a single game. I felt that we had the better team going into our series, and our guys came through, stepped it up and got the job done.”

     Now the Eagles are slated to face Mission Sharyland in a one game Region IV quarterfinal playoff to be held at Frank Tejada Field in San Antonio at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.

     “Sharyland is ranked somewhere between second or fourth in the state,” Mendoza said. “They are up there in the state’s top five for sure and have only lost two or three games this season. Their number one player (Tres Barrera) is a former Eagle Pass Eagle, he was born and raised here before moving to the valley. Tres has already committed to go to UT as a catcher and is also being highly recruited by a lot of major league teams. Sharyland also has a lot of other good players too.”