Tigers face tough competition in Railyard Classic
By Jacob Chavarria
Slatonite Correspondent
The Slaton Tiger baseball team competed this past week in the Railyard Classic, where the Tigers taking on quality opponents left the Tigers going winless on the weekend.
They opened up the tournament Thursday (Feb. 25) against Hereford falling 12-10.
On Friday (Feb. 26), a double header lead to a pair of Tiger losses against Midland High, 12-5, and Seminole, 12-7.
For the last game of the weekend, Estacado bested Slaton 13-2 on Saturday.
With tough competition and playing schools of higher classification Coach Dilon Chancellor is looking to use these games to get his team prepared.
“We’re playing tough competition, that’s what good teams do. They play great competition early to get you prepared for District play and beyond,” he said.
In the Seminole game, the Tigers came out to a 2-0 lead and by the bottom of the sixth they had a 7-2 lead to work with.
The Tigers however lost their lead in the sixth to fall 12-7.
They weren’t able to hold on to their lead and get outs when they needed to, but with a season just starting the Tigers will use this moment for future situations.
“We just have to find a way to put a pitching staff together that can hold us down for a full game,” said Chancellor.
With a weekend slate of four games, some of the players that stood out were sophomore CJ Anzley and senior Matt Vigil.
Anzley was praised for his offensive role as the lead off hitter.
“He’s a hard out at the plate, he competes well and has a lot of bat speed,” Chancellor said.
As for Vigil, he pitched against the 5A Midland High ball club and had nine RBI’s on Friday.
The way he competed against the Bulldogs was what Chancellor like about his senior’s play in game one on Friday. “Vigil goes out there and competes defensively on the mound for us and gives us a chance every time he starts,” he said.
Slaton will look to continue their slate of tough competition as they played Seminole Tuesday (March 2).
After that, they will take part in the Levelland Tournament where again they will see high caliber teams.
Chancellor touched on how these tournaments will get his team better. “In order for us to get better, we’ve got to see big arms, we need to see guys that are competitive at the plate for our pitching staff to grow. We need to be able to face guys that are going to put balls in play in order to give our defense the chance to get in quality work,” he said.
Scores will be reported in next week’s edition.
