Alone in first: Reyna’s complete game lifts Cougars past Lovejoy

THE COLONY, TX – Ever since The Colony baseball team lost four of its final five games to end the preseason portion of the schedule, the Cougars have been on a roll.

The Cougars won their first six games in District 10-5A play before losing to Denison to end the first half of district play. But, The Colony quickly made amends and have started off the second half on a winning note.

With first place in District 10-5A on the line Friday night, The Colony senior Devin Reyna made sure that the Cougars stayed on top of the standings.

Reyna needed only 88 pitches to get through a complete-game performance, lifting The Colony to a 5-3 victory over Lovejoy. He yielded just four hits and struck out five.

In the dugout during the sixth inning, The Colony head coach Martin Dean asked Reyna how he was feeling physically and if he wanted to go back out to the mound to pitch the seventh inning. Reyna replied to Dean, “Coach, I want to go out and win this game.” Reyna retired the side in order to cap off the complete-game effort.

“Usually it’s about 100 pitches by the end of the game,” Reyna said. “I was feeling good. There were a few games where I was throwing 100 pitches.”

The Colony (15-6-1, 7-1) wasn’t the only team that received good starting pitching on Friday.

Early on in the game, Lovejoy left-hander Brandt Corley was involved in a pitcher’s duel with Reyna. Corley combined to allow just one base runner through the first 2 ½ innings – via a two-out single in the second inning by Lovejoy batter Dylan Collins.

Corley worked around several scoring opportunities by the Cougars and limited The Colony to just four runs – although it could have been worse as the Cougars stranded several base runners. He went on to toss four innings, struck out five and yielded one walk.

Lovejoy held a lead with Corbin still on the mound. A pair of defensive errors committed by The Colony in the top of the fourth allowed the Leopards (19-6, 6-2) to take a 2-1 lead. Ralph Rucker hit a double to the outfield wall and then scored on a throwing error. An RBI fielder’s choice off the bat of Collins put the Leopards on top.

But, The Colony worked through those mistakes and plated the tying run. Cougar senior first baseman Andrew Lovato lined a double into left field in the bottom of the fourth to make it a brand-new ballgame.

“Honestly, we didn’t think about (it being a game with first place on the line),” Reyna said. “We think about just coming out there and playing our game.”

Some aggressive base-running by senior Ryan Scott put The Colony ahead for good in the fifth inning. Scott led off with a double that he hit to deep right field and then advanced to third base on a wild pitch. With Noah Olivera up to bat, he placed down a bunt. Scott sprinted from third base and reached out with his hand to touch home plate before Lovejoy could apply the tag.

“We were reading the ball the whole way,” Dean said. “As soon as he got it down, we were off. He read the ball well. We were trying to be aggressive. It was a close ballgame.”

Two batters later, Robert Farr hit an RBI single to make it 4-2 in favor of the Cougars.

“It was a good high school baseball game,” Dean said. “We knew that it was going to be a good, close game. We beat them the first time that we played over there, so we knew that they would want to get back at us.

“Every time they scored, we answered. Devin pitched a great game. Andrew Lovato had a timely double. We came up with the hits when we needed them. We left a lot of guys on base, but we got the win.”