Casey Thrives In Pressure Situation As No. 12 Odessa College Splits With Howard College
The Odessa College baseball team's head coach knows Casey lives for pressure situations.
With the bases loaded, two outs and a one-run lead in the top of the seventh inning, Casey didn't buckle on his 107th pitch of his ninth start of the season.
Casey forced pinch-hitter Grant Golson to fly out to shallow center field as the No. 12 Wranglers secured a 3-2 victory against Howard College in the first game of a conference doubleheader on Saturday at American Legion Park.
"That's what I live for," Casey said. "I love when everybody is nervous and everybody biting on their fingers, because that's the moment I live for.
"I've done it my whole life. I didn't want coach to take me out. I always want the ball in my hand in that situation."
However, the consistent trouble over the weekend for Odessa College was its inability to drive in runners on base. The Hawks capitalized with a 5-4 win in the final game of the doubleheader.
The Wranglers (36-11 overall, 21-7 WJCAC) left a total of 34 runners on bases in the four-game weekend series with the Hawks. Howard College (31-16, 20-8) stranded 25 runners during that same span.
"We played well in my opinion," Lay said. "We need to continue to play well. Getting runners in scoring position, it's one of those things if you put too much emphasis on it, it almost becomes a curse. The guys have to relax.
"We have to be disciplined in the strike zone. We don't need to necessarily change anything. We just have to stay short and stay disciplined whenever we have runners in scoring position."
During the opener, Casey didn't allow a hit until the second batter of the sixth inning.
The Wranglers backed Casey up at the plate and gave their starting pitcher a 3-0 lead after the fourth inning. Angel Torres supplied the first run of the contest on a solo home run in the second. Tresten Kennard scored the second run after a fielding error from Howard College third baseman Andrew Beck. Odessa College drew back-to-back walks by Wade Raburn and Chance Medina, respectively, to force home the third run.
Prior to Saturday's start, Casey was 0-3 and one no decision in his previous four starts. He allowed 28 runs and 37 hits over 18.1 innings.
"The last couple of starts haven't been good," Casey said. "I had to kind of talk to myself, find out what I was doing wrong and go back to the basics. It feels good to help out the team again. It always feels good to get the team a win."
In the second game, the Wranglers scratched across one run in the first three innings.
The Hawks answered with a three-run fourth inning. An RBI single from Howard College's Robert Bullard forced Odessa College to go to its bullpen. The Hawks scored go-ahead and game-winning runs off of relief pitcher Trevor Ripke, who threw the final 5.1 innings.
Howard College went to its bullpen in the bottom of the fourth inning and the trio of Parker Towns, Isaac Guerrero and Chris Fearon combined for six innings, one run on four hits and six strikeouts. Towns picked up the win after he threw 3.2 innings of relief.
"Honestly, I thought we pitched well all weekend, but so did (Odessa College)," Howard College head coach Roberto Martinez said. "Both teams did great on the mound."
Odessa College shortstop Masen Hibbeler went 3 for 5, which included a triple and a solo home run, in the second game. Andrew Morales also finished with three hits.
The Wranglers travel to El Paso Community College for a four-game conference series beginning at noon Friday. Lay said the team can't be fooled by the Tejanos record — which is 7-41 overall and 3-25 in conference — because they will be ready for the Wranglers.
"El Paso hasn't had a great year, but at the same time, they are always out to ruin somebody's season," Lay said. "If we think that we are just going to show up and go win a series, we are sadly mistaken. We have to show up. We have to play well. We have to create and take the game to them."
Article by Royal McGregor