San Antonio Reagan Assistant Coach Reagan Moczygemba is the new Head Baseball Coach for the San Antonio Brandeis Broncos. Moczygemba has been an assistant Baseball Coach at Reagan for the last 3 years. During those 3 years the Rattler Baseball program have a record of 92-21, including a berth in the 6A State Championship Game vs Flower Mound in 2014. Reagan advanced to the Regional Semifinals in 2015.

The 27 year old Moczygemba has been around sports and coaching all of his life. His father Joe Moczygemba, is the Head Football Coach at New Braunfels Canyon and was the Defensive Coordinator at Smithson Valley for 21 years. Moczygemba takes over a Brandeis program that was 15-9 and finished as the #2 seed in 27-6A with a 12-6 record. They were eliminated in Bi-District by Corpus Christi Ray.

With great sadness, we report that Big Sandy Coach Jeff Blackstone was killed in a car wreck Saturday morning. Coach Blackstone had been the Big Sandy Coach for several years winning over 150 games during his tenure.  A candlelight vigil has been scheduled for Monday evening.  Prayers go out from txhighschoolbaseball.com to the Blackstone family and the entire Big Sandy community.

Alvarado head Coach AJ Hall will be leaving to take over the Cedar Hill Longhorns.  Hall just finished his 10th year at Alvarado, leading the Indians to a 3rd place finish in district 7-4A and an area round playoff appearance.  

Accomplishments

2013-  1st District Championship in 30 years, Regional Quarterfinalist

2014-  Co-Champions in 2014, Regional Quarterfinalist

2015-  3rd place in district, Bi-District Champions

To cap off an already crazy year of ice, floods and rain and more rain, Mother Nature continued her wrath during the Flatonia – Kenedy series. This time throwing a nasty curve ball that no one saw coming. Just prior to the noon start time, in and out was complete, the players were ready, the coaches had met and in from right field comes a swarm of bees. First they landed on the field, shortly they moved into the first base dugout. After a few home remedies to get the bees to move on failed, a beekeeper was located who said he could be there around 2:15……just in time for a lightening delay to change the start time. The coaches agreed on a 4PM start time. Rain moved in around 4 and as the players were in the field house, lightening hit the third base light pole. Both schools were getting reports of some flooding on their routes home. With no other fields available outside the rain zone, the Kenedy Staff conceded the series in the interest of the safety of the players and the fans. Hats off to Kenedy for an awesome run this year. Flatonia advances to play Refugio in a 3 game series starting Thursday night.

After 40 years of coaching High School Baseball, Andrews’ Head Baseball Coach Rodney Gardner is hanging it up. Coach Gardner has accumulated 725 wins over those 40 years, coaching 7 years in New Mexico, 13 years at Lubbock Estacado, 6 years at Abernathy and the last 14 years at Andrews.

Gardner has led the Andrews Mustangs to the postseason in all 14 seasons as their Head Baseball Coach. In 2009, Coach Gardner and the Mustangs made it to the State Tournament, losing in the State Semifinals to eventual State Champion Carthage 4-3, a game that was tied going into the 7th inning.

I have had the pleasure of knowing and observing Coach Gardner the last 10 years. My son played at Midland Greenwood and we were in the same district as Andrews his junior and senior seasons. And for the 7 years that I ran the 3ABASEBALL.COM website, I saw them in the playoffs for one or more series almost every one of those years since they were only 40 miles away from Midland. I also saw them play each year in the Tournament of Champions in Midland, playing and competing well and many times winning against the larger division schools.

Here are my observations and appreciation of Coach Gardner over the last 10 years:

• No one could pull off the sneaky pick off attempt at 2B like Coach Gardner and the Andrews Mustangs. Year in and year out, with different players, Andrews had that play down with precision timing.

• Coach Gardner was a master at getting a run home when he needed it most. Whether it was a sacrifice bunt, stolen base, double steal , hit and run, Coach Gardner had his teams equipped to do what was needed to get that one run home.

• Coach Gardner was never intimidated by teams with more talent or more headlines. When Brownwood was able to get a one game playoff series against Andrews in the 2009 Regional Finals with 1st Round Draft pick Shelby Miller on their team, everyone outside of Andrews had all but written Brownwood’s name in as the Region 1 representative at State. But Coach Gardner had his team sit on Miller’s 93 mph fastball and make him throw the curveball for strikes. It worked and Andrews ended up in the State Tournament.

• Coach Gardner finished with 725 wins in his career. But he filled his preseason schedule with larger schools, playing in the large school tournaments in Midland and Lubbock, preparing his teams for the playoffs. Had he played more schools the same size as Andrews he likely could have reached 800 wins.

The Texas High School Baseball website recognizes Coach Rodney Gardner for an outstanding career and wishes he and his wife Vickie all the best in their retirement.

Two weeks ago, Irving Nimitz reached new highs in the baseball program by winning its first playoff series in Nimitz baseball history and by surpassing the previous record high of 18 wins in a season. But evidently, the Nimitz Vikings were not satisfied with setting records as they came through at critical times to defeat the Belton Tigers 2-1 in their best of 3 Area Round Playoff series this past weekend.

Nimitz baseball has had its ups and downs since its start in 1968. In 2001, they finally made the playoffs but lost their Bi-District playoff to Arlington Martin. They were absent from the playoffs for 11 years and reached a low in 2011 when they did not win a single game.

Head Baseball Coach Robert Mendoza came to the program in 2012 and immediately was able to turn things around. In his 2nd year, Nimitz made the playoffs but lost to Flower Mound Marcus in Bi-District, recording a school record 18 wins in the season. In 2014, Nimitz made the playoffs again but lost in 3 games to Coppell.

But this year, Nimitz took the next step. Playing Richardson Pearce in a one game playoff, the Vikings got a great pitching performance from Braden Williams who shutout the Pearce Mustangs limiting them to just 5 hits and 2 walks while striking out 9. Nimitz won the game 2-0, getting a run in the 4th when Braden Williams scored on a double steal and a run in 6th on a Williams’ Sac Fly RBI. It was the first time a Nimitz baseball team advanced in the playoffs. The win was also their 19th of the season, the most wins in a season in their baseball history.

After setting 2 records the previous week, Nimitz moved on to play Belton in a best of 3 series in the Area Round of the playoffs. Nimitz lost the first game in a tight one, 1-0. But the Vikings were not ready to call it over.

In Game 2, Nimitz went to their Sophomore, Brandon Ross, on the mound. He had a very solid outing throwing 6 ⅓ innings while striking out five, and did a great job keeping Nimtz in the game. Josh Ragan and Rico Carrasco were able to contribute at the plate with 3 RBIs in the 5th to make the score 3-0. Rico Carrasco came in relief in the 7th with a runner on 1st and was able to earn the save in another tight one, the final score being 3-2. The win by Nimitz stopped a 19 game winning streak by the Belton Tigers.

In Game 3, Nimitz went to their Junior, Bryson Candelaria who held Belton to 1 run in 5 innings. Nimitz scored a run in the 1st inning with a leadoff triple from Braden Williams and an RBI triple from Josh Ragan. Senior, Alex Rodriguez came in the 6th to hold Belton to a 1-1 score. Nimitz came back with Rico in the top of the 7th to keep the game tied. Belton ended up scoring a run making it 2-1 going into the bottom of the 7th with the top of the lineup coming up for the Vikings. Braden Williams led off the inning with his 2nd triple of the game. Josh Ragan was intentionally walked, putting runners on 1st and 3rd with 1 out. Rico Carrasco grounded out to the shortstop but Williams scored, tying the game at 2-2. With Ragan on 2nd and 2 outs, Andrew Torres stepped up to hit the walk off single to win the game, scoring Ragan from 2nd, and propelling the Nimitz Vikings into the Regional Quarterfinal round.

Coach Mendoza commented on his team, “From the starters to the guys on the bench, everyone has a role on this team. As coaches, we would say that every member of our team is a “key player” because each one has contributed to our success. With seniors like Josh Ragan, Braden Williams, Daniel Weatherford, Andrew Torres, Stephen Buffington, Alex Rodriguez, it’s easy for other guys on the team to step up. We have a young infield with Junior 3B Ryan Balfantz, Sophomore SS Brenden Williams, Freshman 2B Saul Garcia, and Junior 1B / Catcher Rico Carrasco. We’re very lucky to have all of them on the same field wearing the same uniform.”

Coaches also point to senior leadership and hard work as keys to the team’s success this year. But Assistant Coach Allen Somwang revealed another motivation for the team. “Dalton Debrick was a senior last year here at Nimitz, but before he began his first day of school as a freshman at Texas Tech, he passed away at a fraternity party while pledging. He was a great young man who cared about this program, baseball, and his teammates. Our kids are playing for him right now.”

This Nimitz Vikings baseball team certainly seems to be driven. “We knew that the game one loss was not going to be the deciding factor in our season, Coach Mendoza explained, “We have spent lots of hours in the weight room and on the field playing baseball, working on refining our craft as individuals so we can be successful as a team. It was an honor to watch our young men compete at the highest level and prove that Nimitz is one of the best programs in the state. This team is relentless! “

Irving Nimitz now faces 12-6A District Champion Rockwall in a Regional Quarterfinal Matchup. Games are scheduled for Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Grapevine High School.
Nimitz Players Rush to Mob Andrew Torres in Game 3