Reagan pitcher Casey Selsor and Stevens’ Jonathan Perez are teammates when they play summer ball. On Wednesday night, Selsor took a big step toward ending Perez’s spring season.
Selsor outdueled Perez as the Rattlers took Game 1 of the best-of-3 Class 5A third-round series 6-2 in front of 1,165 spectators at Wolff Stadium. The game was delayed almost 45 minutes in the second inning because of rain.
Selsor, a UTSA signee, had nine strikeouts and improved to 12-0 this season.
“That’s just Casey,” Reagan catcher Santiago Ruiz said. “He pumps it up when he needs to, and you can count on him.”
Ruiz hit a two-run homer and shortstop Derrick Walls went 2 for 2 with 2 RBIs to provide the offense.
Reagan had 10 hits off Perez (9-3), who was also hurt by six Falcons errors.
“J.P. battled, and we didn’t help him,” Stevens coach Preston Rogers said. “He had to get 27 outs instead of 21, and that could have been the game.”
Reagan (33-2), ranked No. 7 in the nation according to the USA Today, can advance to the regional semifinals with a victory in Game 2 at 7:30 p.m. on Friday at Wolff Stadium. Game 3, if necessary, is 1 p.m. on Saturday at Wolff.
Stevens (23-9) loaded the bases with one out in the sixth inning, but Selsor struck out the next two batters to get out of the jam.
“The bases were loaded, but I was confident,” Selsor said. “It’s just a pumped up feeling you get in situations like that. It’s competitive drive.”
Selsor, who struck out the side in the fourth and sixth innings, fooling left fielder Rene Solis enough in the fourth that Solis lost handle of his bat and it landed five feet in front of him on strike three. now has a 1.73 ERA and 110 strikeouts in 81 innings. Selsor also had a span of 4 1/3 innings between the second and sixth where he didn’t give up a hit.
Reagan’s offense gave Selsor breathing room, scoring four runs combined in the sixth and seventh innings.
Walls started the game with a double and scored on a single by Ruiz. In the sixth, he hit a two-run single to left field to score Ben Mrachek, who had reached on an error, and Ryan Witte.
Ruiz belted his two-run homer in the seventh, also scoring Selsor who had reached on an error. Ruiz’s shot was initially ruled a double because it bounced off a fence behind the left field wall and bounced back into play, but umpires reversed the call after a conference.
“I was just running, but I heard the ball make a ‘ping’ off that fence,” Ruiz said. “I figured it was a homer, but wasn’t sure until the umps waved me home.”
The Rattlers extended their winning streak to 18 games and have outscored opponents 35-15 in the playoffs. Still, Reagan coach Chans Chapman was reserved after the game.
“I don’t know if this was convincing,” Chapman said. “They’re probably thinking that they win if they don’t have six errors.”
lchan@express-news.net