The Old Pueblo Tribe played two games this weekend and the bats were once again live. The Tribe combined for 21 runs across the two games, as well as 33 hits.
On Friday, the Tribe were playing without Sean Phelan, Dylan Hartmann and Angel Faras who all appeared for the Roswell Invaders from the Pecos League. They faced the Tucson Saguaros, and Phelan impressed. Going 3-4 in his appearance with three singles. Dylan Hartmann also showed off his patience at the plate being able to draw a walk.
Angel Faras appeared in the ninth inning for the Invaders and was hit-by-pitch.
Over on the Tribe’s side of things, the bats were hot on Friday night. They faced the Cerverceros De Tucson and well, as I have continued to mention throughout this month of July. They continued their firework show from the 4th of July game VS The Sun Belt All-Stars.
Twelve runs were scored in total on twelve hits for the Tribe on Friday.
The first inning was explosive for the Tribe, Gilbert Valenzuela was in the lead-off spot and got the rally started. It may not have seemed like much in the moment, but it kicked off a 4-run first inning. G.Valenzuela was hit-by-pitch which later led the way for Robert Valenzuela, who showed off his patience at the plate after falling behind 1-2 in the count. R.Valenzuela was able to draw the walk, which paved the way for Marcus Catalano to come up to bat.
After a five-pitch battle and a wild-pitch which advanced the runners up a base. Catalano was able to get the scoring started with a 1-run-RBI-single.
Then with two runners on, two outs, that opened up the box for Manny Lopez. It only took him one pitch, but that’s all he needed to extend the Tribe’s lead to four. Manny Lopez got a huge 3-run-home-run to extend the Tribe’s lead to 4-0 after Tyler Jacobsen’s shutdown first inning.
They weren’t done just yet though, Mike De La Cruz, coach/player for the Old Pueblo Tribe was also able to get on base with a single.
In the second inning, the fireworks continued for the Tribe. Luis Arciniaga led off the second inning and drew a walk, with Robert Valenzuela coming up with one-out and was able to do the same thing.
That brought up Marcus Catalano with one-out and two-runners on. Remember, Catalano already had a huge 1-run-RBI-single in the first inning. After a foul ball and a swinging strike, Catalano was able to see some quality pitches. Then on the third-pitch, it happened. A huge 3-run home run to right-field for the Tribe, which brought his RBI total to four for the night.
In the fourth inning, Devin Henderson came up in the lead-off spot and was able to draw a walk, with Luis Arciniaga banging a double on the first pitch which advanced Henderson to third. Then Robert Valenzuela was able to single to a ground ball to the shortstop, which drew in a run. Valenzuela up until this point in the game, he had reached base in every single at-bat. (2 BB, 1 1B)
John Montiel came in to bat in the fifth inning for Kaiden Reeve and did a solid job by drawing a walk. Gilbert Valenzuela then came in for Rodrigo Almeraz, and he was hit-by-pitch. That brought up Robert Valenzuela, and after a four-pitch battle, R.Valenzuela was able to get a 1-run-rbi-single. That extended his on-base streak for the game to four, it was a huge game for R.Valenzuela showing off his patience at the plate, and being able to hit two-RBI-singles.
Then in the sixth inning, with Rodrigo Almeraz leading off after replacing Luis Arciniaga, he was able to draw a walk for the Tribe. Which was able to get a solid inning of scoring for the Tribe in. David Hendrick came up to bat in a huge spot and was able to impress the staff. Hendrick hit a huge-1-run-RBI-double which brought in Almeraz after his walk.
But then, something interesting happened, Daniel Durazo who came into the game in the fourth inning for G.Valenzuela, had a huge moment. On the very, first pitch of the at-bat, Durazo hit a huge double, but after an error committed by the second baseman, that allowed him to score. A huge inside-the-park home run for Durazo, which ended up clearing the bases.
Mike De La Cruz had a huge night being able to have 2 singles and then in the sixth inning, had a huge double after replacing R.Valenzuela in the sixth inning. Devin Henderson also was able to hit a huge double but De La Cruz was held up at third. David Hendrick was later hit-by-pitch which led the way for three consecutive outs.
Despite the loss on Friday, the Tribe had huge moments with Marcus Catalano, Mike De La Cruz, and Robert Valenzuela having multi-hit nights.
Kaiden Reeve and Rodrigo Almeraz both came in for relief appearances and both had shutout innings. They both had 3 hits combined and 4 strikeouts combined (both of them had 2 each). Reeve and Almeraz came in and were able to lock down the hot-hitting Cerverceros.
Tyler Jacobsen in his first start for the Tribe, pitched 5.0 innings and this was a full line.
5.0 IP, 23 H, 18 R, 17 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO, 154 P, 103 STK, 66.9% STK THROWN
Once again on Saturday, they were without Sean Phelan, Jojo Escarsega and Dylan Escarsega, who all appeared and started in the game for the Roswell Invaders
Sean Phelan continued his hot streak for the Invaders and went 2/5 with two singles. Phelan was super close to a double or even potentially a triple but the fielder from the Tucson Saguaros made a solid play to grab it on the pop-fly in the gap.
Dylan Hartmann went 0/3 and reached on an error. Hartmann had some solid contact but was just unlucky with where the fielders were set up.His unluckiness started in the first inning, when the umpire caught him up on a slider looking. But according to me and even the Tucson Saguaros broadcast, that pitch, should’ve been called a ball.
Jojo Escarsega went 1/3 with 1 single and also one walk. That walk he drew, was super impressive with Escarsega being able to battle back from an 0-2 count.
Daniel Davila also came in to pitch for the Invaders and despite being unlucky at times with placement of hits, his slider looked really good. Being able to secure three strikeouts in 2.1 innings pitched for the Invaders. Davila produced lots of swing and misses and will certainly be a force to be reckoned with as the season continues.
The Old Pueblo Tribe faced off against the Serpientes on Saturday and once again, it wasn’t short of the fireworks.
In the first inning, with Adan Koch-Rodriguez in the leadoff position, he was unfortunately hit by pitch, which if this part sounds familiar. It is, this slowly started the first inning rally for the Tribe.
During the next-at-bat, Adan decided to steal second and was successful, that steal put him in prime position for Hector Torres, who has been on a tear for the Tribe as of late, and this at-bat was no different. On the very-first pitch, Torres got the scoring started with a 1-run-RBI-single. Torres has had an incredible month of July, including a homerun hit last weekend.
Cesar Santiago was due-up and he also did damage, by getting a single to right field which helped advance Torres to second base.
Rodrigo Almeraz was also hit-by-pitch this inning, which loaded up the bases but unfortunately no runs were able to be produced after the bases loaded.
In the top of the second inning, Luis Arciniaga was in the lead off position and on the first pitch, was able to single on a line drive to center field.
Devin Henderson, who is also a coach for the Tribe was also able to bang in a double which helped advance Luis to third base. Now with two runners on, that drew the way for Oscar Estrada to come up to bat, and he did not disappoint. He was able to hit a huge 1-run-rbi single in the top of the second which helped tie the game for the Tribe.
Then two batters later, Lynam came up to the plate and was also able to string together a 1-run-rbi-single. Whitch helped take the lead in the second inning for the Tribe.
Torres up to bat once again, and well it’s like Groundhog Day with his AB’s, he once again got on base with a single. That single brought him up to huge numbers in the month of July. So far, Torres in 11 AB, has 6 H, with 4 RBI’s, 1 HR, 1 3B, 4 1B and 3 R. Torres is currently batting a .545 across 5 games played and will certainly be a name to watch, whether you’re a fan or a potential scout looking to add on to your team.
In the top of the third inning, the scoring got started by a Cristofer Tejada single, which soon after, Kaiden Reeve taking first base after a hit-by-pitch.
That opened up the batters box for Luis Arciniaga who was able to get a 1-run-RBI-single for the Tribe, which ultimately tied the game up for the Tribe with Reeve was caught trying to advance to third.
In the fifth inning with two outs, Adan Koch-Rodriguez came in to replace Danifer Diaz for the Tribe, and the moment didn’t phase Adan one bit. Being able to get himself on the base paths with two outs in a huge situation for the Tribe.
Lynam then came in the pinch-hit for Kaiden Reeve and on the very first pitch, he was able to get a 1-run-RBI-double for the Tribe, which tied the game at 5-5 for the OPT.
Hector Torres continued his on-base-streak this game by getting hit-by-pitch but after a ground-out to third to get the third out, that left the game tied 5-5 going into the bottom of the fourth inning.
Cristofer Tejada got the chance to lead off the fifth inning for the Tribe and was able to get a huge leadoff-double for the Tribe, which brought up Kaiden Reeve to the plate, and Reeve was able to get a huge double to center field, with Tejada getting held up at third.
Then with Mike De La Cruz to the plate, a wild pitch passed by him which allowed Tejada to score and Reeve to advance to third base. De La Cruz was then later able to single to drive in a run for a rbi-single.
In the eighth inning with Mike De La Cruz up to the plate once again, he did what he knows best. Getting a single on a line-drive to centerfield. With Oscar Estrada up to the plate, he was tasked with bringing Coach Mike home. Estrada did just that, waiting for his pitch and then on the second pitch of the AB, banging it to left-field for a rbi-single.
Co-Owner Marcus Catalano also had a huge weekend at the plate, he played for both the Old Pueblo Tribe and the Serpientes.
Marcus had a multi-homer game on Saturday for the Serpientes and that’s not all. He went a complete 5-5 at the plate on Saturday, completing the amazing weekend for the very busy, Co-Owner, Barber, Dad, Husband and Ballplayer.
Marcus Catalano full line over the weekend:
9 AB – 7 H – 5 R – 8 RBI – 3 HR’s
The Old Pueblo Tribe had a huge weekend, full of huge moments, multiple hits and runs, and tons of fireworks. The Tribe will be looking to get back into the win column this weekend for a matchup against the Old Pueblo Kings.
During pre-season battle for the OPT, they beat the Kings 10-1. The Old Pueblo Tribe will be looking to re-create that win over the Kings this Saturday, at Murrieta Park at 6PM.
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