The Pampa Harvesters (11-12, 4-7) traveled to Perryton on Friday to take on the Perryton Rangers as District 4-4A action continued. They then hosted Randall on Tuesday afternoon for senior night.
The Harvesters found themselves down 8-5 after two innings. They fought and clawed their way back to trail 11-8 by the middle of the fifth but couldn’t get over the deficit and fell 12-8. The Harvesters weren’t able to pick up the win on Tuesday, putting the playoffs further out of reach. But Coach Austin Samulowitz said the team is still focused on getting better and being the best version of themselves.
“The message doesn’t change. We’ve still got to go out and try to be the best version of ourselves,” Samulowitz said. “That starts at practice and focusing on the small details. That’s something we have been preaching all year, but sometimes it hasn’t always translated. That’s just how baseball is. We know we’ve got to play better. We know we’ve got to do the little things better. We’ve got a tough slate of games that we knew was coming. We’ve just got to play a little better.”
Down 4-0 in the bottom of the first, Senior Clayton Rogers got the ball rolling with a double to left field, followed by a base hit from Junior Jaime Soto that Perryton struggled to field. Senior Conner Hall laid down the bunt to bring Rogers home. Two batters later, Freshman Austin Hunt had a base hit, bringing Junior Courtesy Runner Gage Gamblin home and closing the gap to two. Senior Max Neff later added an RBI single to bring home Junior Cy LeBlanc, followed by an RBI double from Senior Boston Botello to give Pampa the 5-4 lead.
Perryton added three more runs and kept the Harvesters from scoring in the top of the third. Perryton added two more runs in the bottom of the third to extend their lead to 10-5.
In the top of the fourth, Freshman Phoenix Lopez and Botello each drew a walk. Lopez eventually scored during Senior Jack Dyer’s at bat, followed by a sac fly from Rogers to close the deficit on the scoreboard to 10-7. Lopez added another RBI single, scoring LeBlanc and making it 10-8 Pampa. But it was too little, too late and Perryton tacked on another run for our final of 12-8.
“Cy and Gage have both been productive at the plate and in the dugout. Both guys are team first guys and if we had a team full of them, we would be in a good spot. Both bring a good energy to the team and both are extremely competitive,” Samulowitz said.
The Harvesters returned Tuesday when they hosted the Randall Raiders. Game time is at 5 p.m. It is Senior Night. Tristan Bagwell, Boston Botello, Jack Dyer, Conner Hall, Clayton Rogers, and Greyson Paronto were honored before the game. While they didn’t get the win, Samulowitz said it doesn’t take away from the contributions of this group of seniors.
“Boston (Botello, Senior) had his 100th start at Perryton, Randall was 101,” Samulowitz said. “I think Max (Neff, Senior) had start No. 90. They’ve been with the program all four years and have done a fantastic job, statistically. We’ll miss them next year. But we’ve also got a lot of good, young players coming up. So we’re excited for the next three years also.”
Samulowitz’ favorite memory with this group of seniors came last year when two years of heartbreak and struggles culminated in a playoff win over Midland-Greenwood.
“Last year, winning our playoff round (was my favorite memory),” Samulowitz said. “Their freshman year we missed the playoffs by one game. Their sophomore year, we had a rough year. Their junior year, we made the playoffs and went two rounds. So that’s something that’ll hang around a while, I think.”
The Harvesters look to right the ship on Friday when they travel to Dumas to take on the Demons. Game-time is at 5 p.m.
“It’s going to be a tough game,” Samulowitz said. “We’re going to face their ace. We beat them here last year to make the playoffs. He’s been pitching really well. We just need to go out and play the best we can.”
Stat Round-Up
At Perryton
Junior Jaime Soto pitched two innings with seven hits, eight runs, eight earned runs, three walks and a strikeout; Senior Greyson Paronto pitched .2 innings with two runs, two earned runs, five walks; Freshman Austin Hunt pitched 3.1 innings with three hits, two runs, one earned run, one walk and four strikeouts.
Senior Max Neff went 2-4 with a run scored and an RBI; Senior Boston Botello went 1-3 with a run scored, two RBI, two stolen bases, a double and a walk; Senior Jack Dyer drew a walk; Senior Clayton Rogers went 1-3 with a run scored, an RBI and a double; Junior Jaime Soto went 1-4; Senior Conner Hall went 2-3 with an RBI; Junior Cy LeBlanc went 1-3 with two runs scored; Freshman Austin Hunt went 2-4 with a run scored, a double, and an RBI; Freshman Phoenix Lopez went 2-3 with a run scored, two stolen bases and an RBI.
Vs Randall
Junior Jaime Soto pitched three innings with 10 hits, seven runs, seven earned runs, a walk and two strikeouts; Senior Greyson Paronto pitched two innings with two hits, one run, one earned run; Freshman Austin Hut pitched one inning with two hits and three runs.
Senior Max Neff went 1-2 with a run scored, a stolen baseand a walk; Senior Boston Botello went 1-3 with a stolen base; Senior Clayton Rogers had a stolen base; Senior Jack Dyer went 1-3 with a stolen base and Freshman Phoenix Lopez went 1-2 with a double.