After a rough outing in the Eagles’ Game 1 loss, he knew what he had to do with his team’s season and state championship defense on the line.
Behind a pair of pitching gems, including Mendoza’s combined no-hitter with Ryan Fares in the decisive Game 3, Rogers pounded New Waverly 10-0 in six innings and then 11-2 to win the best-of-three Class 2A baseball bi-district series at Hornet Field.
After watching teammate Dylan Kuehn dominate a dangerous Bulldog lineup in Game 2, Mendoza knew he’d have to do the same thing to extend his team’s season.
“I told myself, ‘I gotta get this done. I gotta get my team to next round,’” he said.
Sure enough, Rogers (24-8) is headed to the area round, where it will face District 28-2A champion Hallettsville (20-3), the state’s ninth-ranked team.
The best-of-three series at Austin’s Nelson Field begins at 7 p.m. Friday. Start times for Games 2 and 3 have not been determined.
But before the youthful Eagles could worry about facing the Brahmas, they needed to find a way to right the mistakes that doomed them in their Game 1 loss to New Waverly (19-7).
Pitching, defense and an inability to get a key hit late cost Rogers in a heart-breaking 6-5 loss Friday night.
Less than 24 hours later, the Eagles rebounded and dominated from the start.
Kuehn, a senior, struck out nine batters and had the Bulldogs baffled. He walked two and scattered just four hits in the six-inning, run-rule victory.
Kuehn (5-3) was originally scheduled to start Game 3 but was moved up after scheduled Game 2 starter Travis Perkins was called into duty Friday to relieve a shaky Mendoza.
But the way Kuehn pitched, it likely didn’t matter what game he started.
“Dylan Kuehn pitched a great game,” Rogers coach Craig Coheley said. “That was the whole key.”
Well, that and the Eagles’ offense.
Rogers took advantage of four New Waverly errors in Game 2 - including three dropped fly balls. An offense that frustrated Coheley with its inability to get a key hit with runners in scoring position Friday certainly did the job Saturday, pounding out a combined 22 hits.
Coheley challenged his players - namely anyone not named Cameron Doskocil - to step up and get a hit in the clutch.
Designated hitter Stephen Hines took the message to heart and battered Bulldog pitchers in both games.
Hines was a combined 4-for-6 with seven RBI, including a base-clearing three-run double that provided the exclamation point on the Eagles’ Game 2 win.
Not bad for a kid that entered the playoffs with nine RBI in his previous 31 at-bats.
“Hines had a good day,” Coheley said. “Boy, he had some big run-scoring hits. We talked before we came and said for us to come back and take two from them, we needed to go win the game on the scoreboard and that’s what we did.”
Hines was 0-for-2 Friday, reaching on a fielder’s choice, a walk and an error in the No. 7 spot. Evidently the move up to the fourth spot in the lineup made all the difference.
“Last night I wasn’t really feeling it,” Hines said. “Today, I played well.”
The Eagles’ hot bats kept rolling in Game 3. Rogers jumped out to an 8-0 lead after just three innings.
The Eagles once again took advantage of New Waverly errors and control problems by starter Zach Bowen, who walked six in four innings.
Hines provided the key hit again, smashing a two-run single to center field as part of a four-run second inning.
All that run support certainly helped calm down Mendoza, who walked two of the first three he faced in the first - an eerily similar start to Friday night’s disaster.
The usually strong Mendoza, who entered the playoffs with a team-best 0.68 ERA, lasted just two-thirds of an inning Friday. He walked three and allowed two runs in New Waverly’s backbreaking three-run fifth.
But after a fielder’s choice in the first, Mendoza retired the next eight batters and cruised through the next five innings. Mendoza lasted six innings before Fares recorded the final three outs in the seventh on six pitches to preserve the no-hitter.
“Greg didn’t have his good stuff, but he just pitched with his heart,” Coheley said.
And that heart helped keep the state champs alive for another week.
NOTE: The best-of-three series win was the ninth straight for Rogers dating back to the 2005 season. Comfort defeated the Eagles in the regional quarterfinals two games to one.
rschneider@temple-telegram.com
