1 week Ago By Gabe Myers
It was a night of firsts for Victoria West's DJ Martinez at Riverside Stadium on Friday. During a 10-run third inning, Martinez launched his first high school home run over the left field wall. At the conclusion of West's (12-6-2, 7-1) 18-0, five-inning victory over Rosenberg Terry (8-10-2, 3-5), Martinez celebrated a no-hitter.
"The coach really allowed me to just do my thing as usual," Martinez said. "He didn't really think about pulling me or anything. They wanted me as a senior to finish the game and take some leadership on the mound because, at the end of the day, we still have a job to do.
" The only real question was whether Martinez would finish the game. West's 10-run third inning saw the Warriors open an 18-0 lead. That's a spot where it would be natural to pull your starting pitcher and give other players some work.
But head coach Jay Perez and his staff allowed Martinez to chase the milestone even as they rotated some of the position players. "We just played the other guys that we have to fill in," Perez said. "I wanted to make sure he {Martinez] was comfortable with that, with getting some guys some playing time.
He has full trust in those guys behind him." While it got out of hand, that was not the expectation heading into Friday's game against the Rangers. On Tuesday in Rosenberg, West encountered a tough game, trailing 1-0 after five innings before coming alive for five runs in the final two innings for a 5-1 victory.
"We always expect everybody's best and we expected this to be a really good ball game against a good baseball team," Perez said. "We're oddly familiar with tough first innings and having to deal with adversity, so this is nothing new." The only time Friday night's game looked like it could be close was in the top of the first inning when two Warrior errors and a passed ball allowed Terry runners to reach second and third base with two outs.
Once West escaped that inning scoreless, they were off to the races. "He did a great job executing on the mound, doing his job, even after starting off slow," Perez said of Martinez's pitching performance. "He stayed in it mentally and just kept executing and doing what he's supposed to do.
" West scored five runs in the first inning thanks to two-run singles from Cade Sebby and Ethan Guerra, along with a RBI groundout from Payton Brannan. Martinez, Jay Guerrero and Hayden Michalk each drove in a single run in the second inning to make it 8-0. Martinez's home run punctuated the 10-run third inning, but it was far from the only big blow.
Brannan brought in a run with a RBI triple and Guerrero brought Brannan i on a RBI double. The back-to-back extra base hits set up Martinez's only high school home run. After the home run, the focus in the dugout turned to finishing off the no-hitter, completing his a special night.
"It's just like a dream," Martinez said of Friday's game. "Not a lot of people say they hit a bomb in a high school game or that they got to throw a no-no in a high school game. It means a lot and for everyone to be a part of that, putting up the 18 runs and giving me a chance to throw one.
It felt pretty good." Victoria West 18, Rosenberg Terry 0 Terry 000 00 — 0 0 5 West 5310 0x— 18 11 3 W: DJ Martinez. L: Stephen Ramirez.
Highlights: (W) DJ Martinez 5 IPs, 7 Ks, 0 Hs, 0 Rs, 1-for-3, HR, 3 RBIs, BB; Payton Brannan 1-for-3, 3B, 2 RBIs, BB; Jay Guerrero 1-for-2, 2B, 2 RBIs; Cade Sebby 3-for-4, 2 RBIs; Aiden DeLeon 1-for-1, 3 BBs, 4 Rs. Records: Terry 8-10-2, 3-5; West 12-6-2, 7-1.
