On Monday, February 21, 2022, the Judson Rockets Baseball suited up to play their first game of the season at home against the Veterans Memorial Patriots. 

To start the top of the first inning, Rocket’s pitcher, junior Javi Torres, let up one hit but was quick to get back in the swing of things, striking out the next three batters on beautiful pitches. To start the bottom of the first, Rocket’s shortstop, sophomore Kaden Williams, was walked. The next three batters hit pop-flies that were caught in the outfield, ending the inning at 0-0. 

To start the top of the second, Torres quickly struck out three Patriot batters, ending the top of the second inning. The Patriots then walked the first two Rocket batters, juniors Joe Pacheco and Aaron Castellanos. This led to a hard hit in the middle gap by Rocket catcher, junior Logan Dominguez, which loaded the bases. The Patriot’s pitcher could not get a handle after that hard hit and ended up walking the next 4 batters. The Rockets took the lead, 6-0.

To start the top of the third, the Patriots finally got something going after a base hit was followed by an RBI double, making the score 6-1. Torres struck-out the last batter to end the top of the third. The Rockets then couldn’t get anything going and ended up going three up three down to end the 3rd stuck at 6-1.

To start the top of the fourth, the Rockets caught an outfield pop-fly for an easy first out. Torres then struck out the next two batters with a slider and then a curveball, ending the top of the fourth. At the bottom of the fourth, Rocket’s left fielder, junior Jaime Velasquez, was walked. Afterward, senior Michael Burroughs put all eyes on him with a heads up play to force a chase-down with the Patriot 3rd baseman and shortstop. This allowed Velasquez to run home, putting the score at 7-1. The next two batters were struckout, and the game went into the 5th inning. 

In the 5th, Rocket pitcher Torres struck-out three batters back-to-back-to-back which ended the Patriots batting turn. To start the bottom of the 5th, the Rockets went three up and three down also, ending the 5th inning. To start the top of the 6th, the Rockets let up one run. Then, Castellanos was brought in to pitch. He struck out two batters, let up a hit, then struck out the last one to end the game with a final score of 7-2, Rockets.

The Judson Rockets (1-0) will face off tomorrow in a tournament against Southwest Legacy (0-1) on Thursday, February 23rd, 2022.