The always aggressive Coleman delivered early for the Rebels with an RBI double in the top of the first. Lee also got a gritty seven-inning start from senior Adam Becker, a slew of nifty defensive plays and a clutch save by Isacc Madrid to edge Odessa High, 3-2 in eight innings at Pressly Field.
“(We wanted to) attack early and attack often,” said Coleman, who finished 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI, helping the Rebels to snap a three-game losing streak. “That was the main thing for us. Finally some stuff clicked. We had nine hits and (had) big hits overall.”
With the win, combined with Odessa Permian’s 9-1 win at Amarillo Tascosa Friday, Lee (17-13, 8-7) secured the district’s No. 3 playoff seed. Permian (22-12, 8-7) courtesy of its head-to-head tiebreaker over Lee and OHS, earned the No. 2 seed, while the Bronchos (22-9, 8-7) settled for fourth.
Lee will face either El Paso Coronado or El Paso Franklin in the Class 6A bi-district round at a date, time and location to be determined.
Rebels head coach Brian Roper said it was refreshing to see his team battle through eight competitive innings and earn up a much-needed victory before the start of the playoffs. A number of players got starts at rare positions, including Tyler Madrid playing left field, Isacc Madrid at third base and Jorge Alvarez at designated hitter.
“We overcame a lot and that’s the big thing,” Roper said. “Sometimes it doesn’t have to be pretty. We always talk about getting 21 outs and we had to get a few more (Friday), but I’m proud of our guys. What we talked about (Thursday) was making sure that we did some things (Friday) to make us feel good about a new season. We did it.”
Facing OHS left-hander Damian Aspeitia, the Rebels quickly opened rally when Becker tripled to left field. Coleman then handed Lee a 1-0 lead with a double to left, but Aspeitia stranded the bases loaded to end the inning.
With the help of some strong defense from Madrid at third and catcher Colby Standard, Becker worked his way out of jams in both the bottom of the first and second innings. Then on a 3-0 pitch, Coleman led off the third with a solo blast over the left field fence to make it 2-0 Rebels.
Becker battled his way through the third and fourth frames, before setting down the Bronchos in order in the fifth. OHS finally got on the board in the sixth when Aspeitia scored Hervey Nieto with an RBI groundout to second base.
In the seventh, after OHS loaded the bases on a walk and a pair of singles, Gibrian Pena tied the game at 2-2 with a sacrifice fly to center.
For head coach Josh Hulin and the Bronchos, it was frustrating to settle for just one run after getting the first three batters of the inning aboard. But he credited Becker for executing timely pitches.
“In my mind, you’ve got the bases loaded with no outs, you’re down a run and you’ve got your two- , three-, four-hole hitters, you expect to win that game,” said Hulin. We didn’t get it done offensively. But give all the credit to Becker. (Lee) needed him to step up and he stepped up in a big way.”
In the eighth, Coleman knocked a leadoff double and came around to score on a flared single into left center off the bat of Chase Pederson.
Pederson said he needed to stay calm and compact in the batter’s box with the winning run on third.
“I didn’t (want to) get big, knowing we needed that run,” Pederson said. “I did it for the team. We played as a team and didn’t let the game get too big for us. It feels good. We needed this win.”
Becker yielded two earned runs on eight hits, while striking out two and walking four.
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