Chargers sweep Sabercats; rival Reagan next

EDINBURG – Churchill righty Landry Wideman opened the gate for Edinburg Vela and then he shut it to set the course for the Chargers 9-2 victory in Game 2 of their Region IV-6A semifinal series at UT-Rio Grande Valley.

Churchill owned a 2-0 lead heading into the bottom of the first. Wideman committed a throwing error in that helped Vela load the bases with one out. Wideman got out of it with a strikeout and fielding a comebacker to the mound. This time there was no error.

“I just put it behind me,” Wideman said of his error. “You just have to throw it away … When I got the ball (to end the inning), I was running it over there.”

Wideman fielded two other grounders and got the out in similar fashion.

Churchill next faces District 26-6A rival Reagan next week in the regional finals. The date and site are to be determined.

After getting out of the firstinning jam, the Chargers and Wideman rolled.

“Landry has been in those situations before,” Churchill coach Dennis Schlueter said. “He has a lot of experience, and we felt confident that he would throw strikes and help us get out of that, and that’s what he did. He battled his butt off and gave us a chance by throwing strikes.”

Wideman added: “It turned the momentum onto us. We got it rolling after that, pretty much.”

Wideman went five innings, gave up three hits and two runs (one earned). Although he only had one strikeout, Wideman mowed through Vela’s lineup. He faced nine batters over the next three innings. He yielded one walk in that span and it was wiped out by an inning-ending double play in the third.

Kevin Fleisher and Jesse Herrera each singled in runs in the first to give Churchill a 2-0 lead. The Chargers made it 3-0 in the second when Caetano Rochelle scored from third after Hudson Head was hit on the leg with bases loaded.

Herrera singled in another run and Head scored on Greg Morales’ chopper to second that put Churchill ahead, 5-0, in the fifth.

The Sabercats (29-6) cut it to 5-2 in the bottom of the fifth, and Churchill responded by scoring two runs in the each of the sixth and seventh innings.

Head tripled in a run and DeLeon had an RBI single in the sixth. DeLeon singled in two more runs in the seventh.

Churchill took the opening game, 7-3, on Thursday at Blossom Athletic Complex.

Reagan defeated Churchill in both their meetings in district play. The Rattlers advanced by defeating Laredo Alexander in three games.

Churchill’s Landry Wideman gave up two runs, one earned, in five innings Saturday.