Hilltop Views (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 46, No. 5, Ed. 1 Wednesday, October 9, 2019 Page: 4 of 12
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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2019 | HILLTOPVIEWSONLINE.COM
4SPORTS
By ODETT OCHOA
■
COURTESY OF KA SPORTS & CREATIVE COMMONS
Rays get "Verlandered," Houston Astros
lead Tampa Bay Rays 2-1 in AIDS
in the team’s second season invitational, sophomore
Everardo Esparza led SEU with a first place finish.
0.0 A.T. Of THE MONTH:
EVERARDO ESPARZA
for
fast
not
mean
In his return to MLB action, Astros shortstop Carlos Correa is fully recov-
ered from a back injury and ready to help Houston through playoffs.
The "G.O.A.T. of the
Month” is a segment in
which the Hilltop Views
sports section recognizes
the consistent, impactful
performance of a stand'
out SEU athlete during
the span of a month.
Sophomore Everado Es-
I I
By DANTE GUTIERREZ
@DanteGu27
Starting pitching has been
the bread and butter of the
Houston Astros this season.
During the first two games of
the American League Divi-
sion Series, the Astros start-
___________ _________________________________________y*_____________________1
COURTESY OF SEU ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS
66.
•
• ’
/60911i83
r ■--------
‘“VS ATHLETICS
the offense with a
■ two-run home run
off Rays starter
Tyler Glasnow in
the fifth. Houston
added two more
unearned runs in
the same inning to
pad its lead.
The Astros stole
three bases, tak-
ing advantage of
Rays catcher Tra-
vis d’Arnaud’s in-
ability to throw out
base stealers. He
has surrendered 14
stolen bases in the
However,
Esparaza
times do
necessarily
on nationals. God willing,
everything goes and we’ll
make it. As for individual
goals, for me, it is about
being the best teammate I
can be.”
Esparaza spent his offsea-
son trying to consistently
run about 70 miles every
week and focus on his nu-
trition every single day.
L
paraza opened up
the 2019 Cross-
Country season
by finishing in
the top 15 at the
5K Texas Invi-
tational in mid-
September and
later earning first
place at the 8K
Concordia Texas
Cross Country
Classic. Esparaza
clinched the win
with a time of
27:26.5, nine sec-
onds ahead of the
next competitor.
playoffs dating back to his career.
tenure with the New York After Saturday's perfor-
Mets in 2015. mance, Cole has now record-
After his team was defeated ed 10 consecutive starts with
on Friday night, Rays man- 10 or more strikeouts. Game
ager Kevin Cash responded 2 marked Cole’s second post-
by simply saying, “We got season start with 10 or more
Verlandered.” strikeouts, making him the
The offensive struggles only only Astros pitcher to have
running dates back to his
middle school days when a
close friend suggested that
he participate in the meet
that Saturday.
“My first-ever race I
ended up getting second
place, and that's where it
all began. At the end of
the race, it comes down to
who put in the work and
who brought their ‘A’ game.
.. ."2 All'.
L - ■■ /dadd
Esparaza also emphasizes
how important it is to take
time to focus on the mental
aspect of competing.
The Progreso, Texas, na-
tive’s preparation on meet
day has evolved into that of
a calm and collected com-
petitor.
“Meditation is good at
least once a week. So once
race day comes, you are all
have come to realize that I
really have nothing to lose
...it feeds the fire, it gets
me going. I just took it step
by step the same thing as
the last, the only difference
was my mindset.”
Esparaza is set to com-
pete at the NCAA Divi-
sion II South Central Re-
gion Preview on Oct. 12.
It’s all guts
when comes
down to the
last home-
stretch.”
Esparaza
credits his
achieve-
ments to
the support
system that
his mom
has provid-
ed him with
over the
years. The
rising cross-
country star
looks to her
for motiva-
tion and
knows that
with her in
his corner,
he has noth-
ing to lose.
“I am who
I am today
because of
[my mom],”
Esparaza
said. “Re-
cently, I
cleared up. I used to just
blast music and try to get
in the zone right before
the race and have exactly
three gummy bears. Now,
it’s more of a earphones off
and just talk and have fun
with the team.”
Describing running as
“one of the purest forms of
sport,” Esparaza’s love for
success.
“My goals are
not based off of
times. It would
be nice to run fast
times, but ulti-
mately, I want a
good team result,”
Esparza said.
“The team has
their mind set
ing pitchers have dominated continued for the Rays, as done so.
with stellar performances by they faced Cole on Saturday The Astros bullpen was the
Justin Verlander and Gerrit for Game 2. weak link in the Game 2. Ro-
Cole, both of which com- Cole struck out every bat- berto Osuna loaded the bases
bined to hold the Tampa Bay ter in the Rays’ lineup, while in the ninth inning with no
Rays to a mere three runs. only giving up four hits. He outs. The Rays’ Avisafi Gar-
Last Friday, Verlander com- used an overpowering fast- cia grounded into a force-out
pleted a seven inning shut- ball that averaged 98 mph that scored one run and put
out, surrendering only one and showed a great feel for runners at the corners with
hit. The Astros’ ace struck all of the pitches in his rep- one out.
out eight while tossing ex- ertoire. Osuna then loaded the bas-
actly 100 pitches. Verlander Saturday was a record-set- es again before being relieved
walked the Rays’lead-ofFbat- ting night for Cole. His 15 by Will Harris. Harris even-
ter, Austin Meadows, to start strikeouts were the most by tually completed the save for
the game before retiring the a starting pitcher in a playoff the Astros.
next 10 consecutive batters game since 2,000 when Cie- The Astros are in control of
he faced. mens completed 15 strike- their destiny as they travel to
With his eight strikeouts, outs as a member of the New Tampa Bay for Game 3 of the
Verlander increased his York Yankees. series. Zack Greinke will take
postseason strikeout total to He also set an Astros fran- the mound against Charlie
175, passing former Astros’ chise record for strikeouts in Morton in what could be the
pitcher Roger Clemens for a playoff game, along with a final game of this series,
third all-time. He is now 24 personal record tossing 118 The Astros will look to
strikeouts shy of the leader, pitches — the most he’s ever close out the series at Tampa
Hall of Famer John Smoltz, thrown in his Major League Bay on Oct. 8.
who recorded 199 ________________________________________________________
postseason strike- I
outs.
Meanwhile, Jose
Altuve sparked
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Hilltop Views (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 46, No. 5, Ed. 1 Wednesday, October 9, 2019, newspaper, October 9, 2019; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1523490/m1/4/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 10, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting St. Edward’s University.