This past week our varsity baseball team took on and beat two quality opponents to begin the second half of district play. Last Tuesday, we were in Comanche and the game went well.We jumped out to an early 4-0 lead as Luke Cox and JT Mathis each singled in runs and two wild pitches allowed two more runs to score. Ryan Guidroz took the mound and took control of the Comanche batters. He pitched three innings allowing one hit, walked three and struck out one as he got credit for the win. In the top of the third, Kelan Verette got on with a single, later stole second, and came in to score on a single to centerfield by Isaac Jimenez. Four more Dillo runs would score in the fourth. Clayton Perry led off with a double, Luke Cox also doubled to knock in Perry. Ryan Pannell hit a very hard ground ball to third for a single. Verette got on by a fielder’s choice play at third and Mathis took a pitch on the hip to load the bases. Jimenez doubled to left center to bring in two more runs, and Mathis advanced from third on a wild pitch for the fourth run of the inning.Zack Davis came in to relieve the pitching duties of Guidroz to be available later in the week. He allowed two hits and struck out two in one inning of work. Later, Clayton Perry would finish sharing the mound by also going one inning, striking out one and allowing no hits. The fifth inning is when the Dillos really put the game out of reach. Davis started the inning with a triple over the center-fielder’s head. After a strike out, Cox singled to center to score Davis. Pannell singled to left and then we had another strikeout. With two away, a wild pitch moved the runners up and a single by Mathis scored Marcus Sterling, who had been running for Luke Cox, and Pannell moved to third. Jimenez tripled deep into left center allowing Pannell and Mathis to score. Josh Wright earned a pinch-hit walk and Russell Lowe sent one deep into the right field corner for another triple and pushing in Jimenez and Wright. Davis singled his second time up in the inning, which scored Lowe and the inning finally ended with a pickoff play at first. The final score was San Saba – 16, Comanche – 0.Last Thursday, we hosted the Early Longhorns at Dillo Diamond to determine who would take sole possession of second place. The game started with Ryan Pannell on the mound and we got off to a little bit of a slow start. He allowed five hits and five runs in just two innings of work. After going scoreless in our first two innings, we had to bring in another pitcher. We could not afford to get too far behind an opponent like the Longhorns. Ryan Guidroz came in and put out the fire in the third keeping the score 5-0 in favor of Early.In the bottom half of the inning, the Dillos decided to go to work. The rally got started with a walk to JT Mathis on five pitches, and then Tanner Weyerts got hit on the foot by a pitch. Russell Lowe got on by hitting a ball to second that could not be played. With the bases loaded, Zack Davis hit a ball to shortstop, who flipped to second to get Lowe out on a fielder’s choice, scoring Mathis from third. Clayton Perry drew a walk to load the bases again. Luke Cox singled to center to score Weyerts and Davis. Pannell walked to load the bases, and Kelan Verette also drew a walk to force in Perry for a run. Isaac Jimenez walked to force in Cox and Pannell scored on a wild pitch. Altogether six runs came across the plate and San Saba now had the lead 5-6. In the top of the fifth, Early pushed one more run across with one out and back-to-back doubles. This evened the game at six. In the bottom half, the Armadillos were back to scoring again. Davis hit a hard ground ball to short and beat it out to stay on at first. Perry walked and Cox singled to center on a fly ball lost in the lights. Pannell got a single to right the same exact way to score Davis and to reclaim the lead. Then with two out and the bases still loaded, Jimenez took a 1-0 pitch over the left center field wall for a grand slam!! This pushed the lead to 6-11.Guidroz and the Dillo Defense did their part to hold on to this lead for the rest of the game. Only in the seventh inning did Early score any more, and it was only one run on a lead off single and a two out double. The final score was Early – 7, San Saba – 11. With these two wins, the Armadillos improve to 14-4 on the year and 7-2 in district, good for second place. Our next two games will be played here at Dillo Diamond located on the hill in Mill Pond Park. Friday, April 13, we will be hosting the first place Bangs Dragons. Our JV teams will play at 4:30 and our varsities will follow at 7:00. We will also be hosting the Hamilton Bulldogs on the following Tuesday, April 17. There will not be a JV game that day, so our varsity game is still set for 7:00 for now. The radio, the high school office, and the athletic fieldhouse can keep you up to date and relay any game or time changes that may occur. Again, we truly appreciate everyone’s hard work and support helping our baseball program to where it is today. Thank you, Go Dillos!!!