ANDREW SALMI [email protected]
The Taylor High School varsity baseball team started its highlyanticipated 2024 regular season on a very high note Monday, Feb. 19 as the Ducks got a dominant no-hitter from senior pitcher Chris Perez to help propel them to an 8-0 victory at home over Jarrell High School. The win was the first for Taylor Head Coach Kale McQuillen at the helm of the Ducks baseball program.
“I am very proud of this team and their performance,” McQuillen said. “We have been working really hard in practice and we wanted to start this season off the right way.”
Perez could not be stopped on the mound as the visiting Cougars had no answer for him all night. In a nearly perfect performance, Perez struck out 19 Jarrell batters in 7.0 innings pitched with just one walk, one hit batter and got the other two outs via groundout.
“I was very proud of the way we were able to produce runs on top of Chris’s performance when it came to pitching,” McQuillen said. “For Chris to have 19 K’s and a no-hitter for our season opener is awesome.”
Taylor got its offense going in the bottom of the third inning with a leadoff triple by junior catcher Nick Treuter. After Ducks senior Jordan Pickerill came in as a pinch runner, Perez smacked a triple of his own and Pickerill scored the Ducks’ first run of the season for a 1-0 lead.
The Ducks would add two more runs in the third inning, tacked on one run in the fourth frame and then added two runs apiece in the fifth and sixth innings to pad the lead.
In addition to the RBI triple from Perez, the Ducks got two runs batted in from senior Dominick Hartman and one RBI apiece from senior Braylan Alderete, senior Ayden Gutierrez, senior Deacon Stokes and junior Mario Aguero.
The Ducks are now set to compete Feb. 22-24 at the Seguin tournament.
