Dynamic duo lead McAllen past Puerto Rico for titleGame pictures:
www.jconline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Site=BY&Date=20080813&Category=SPORTS&ArtNo=808130806&Ref=PH&referrer=NEWSFRONTCAROUSEL Gurabo, Puerto Rico, entered the 2008 Colt World Series having won three consecutive PONY Baseball-sanctioned championships.
A Bronco World Series in 2005. A Pony-13 World Series in 2006. And a Pony-14 World Series in 2007.
South Zone champion McAllen, Texas, was impressed but not intimidated by a team comprised only of 15-year-olds in an event for 15- and 16-year-old players.
Lupe Lopez's pitching and hitting, and third baseman Alvaro Moreno's timely hitting formed the nucleus in McAllen's 12-2, six-inning Colt World Series championship game victory Wednesday night in Loeb Stadium.
It's the fifth time in six years that the South Zone champion has won the CWS. However, McAllen is the first team from Texas to win this event since Pasadena in 1973.
Tampa, Fla., won four consecutive CWS crowns from 2003 through 2006.
McAllen, which defeated Puerto Rico 6-0 on Friday in Red Division pool play, spotted Gurabo a 2-0, second-inning advantage Wednesday.
But with a crowd of 2,381 looking on, Lopez led off the bottom of the second with a home run over the center field wall against losing pitcher Kelvin Rivas.
"Hitting that home run was cool," said Lopez, who pitched a complete-game five-hitter without a walk. "After that home run, I knew we were going to come back. I knew everyone was going to wake up and start hitting.
"That's what we did the next inning. Moreno always is hot with the bat. You saw that when he got another big hit and had lots of RBIs."
Moreno, the CWS batting champion with a .667 average (12-for-18), capped McAllen's four-run second with a two-out, two-run double to center.
The third baseman was 3-for-3 in the championship game with four RBIs and a pair of runs. Lopez was 2-for-3 with three runs and an RBI -- the second-inning homer.
"That home run was our wakeup call," Moreno said. "Lupe is a great player. He got everything on that home run. We kept going from there. Starting that rally in the second was great.
"Puerto Rico is a pretty good team, but we came ready to play. On Tuesday, we couldn't hit (against Hoosier North), but tonight, all the guys got the bats going."
Axel Serna singled home a third-inning run, and McAllen led 5-2. The Texans then chased Rivas, who one-hit Lafayette on Saturday night, with a five-run fourth.
Moreno singled home a fourth-inning run, and catcher Roland Garcia added a two-run triple.
Moreno's fifth-inning homer made it 11-2, and McAllen won by virtue of the 10-run-lead rule when Lopez doubled in the sixth and scored on a throwing error.
McAllen pounded five Puerto Rican pitchers for 12 hits, including two home runs, a triple and two doubles.
But of McAllen's five extra-base hits, the Lopez homer was the game's key.
"We were down a little and needed a boost," McAllen manager Jorge Salinas, Sr., said. "Lupe did it. When he was pitching, he shut them down. After Lupe hit that home run, we knew we had something.
"Moreno always does well. He struggled Tuesday, but he came through again tonight. He is amazing. I can't say enough about him."
Puerto Rican manager Edwin Correa, an ex-Major League pitcher with the Chicago White Sox and Texas Rangers, said this game turned on one Lopez swing of the bat.
"One pitch changed the complexion," Correa said. "After scoring two runs in the top of the second, we needed to put a zero up there in the bottom of the second.
"Not only was that a devastating home run, it gave McAllen life. Once you have momentum in this game, it's really, really hard to beat that team. I have to give them a lot of credit."
Correa said Lopez gets his MVP vote.
"Lupe Lopez pitched a great ballgame," Correa said. "He found a ball at the plate and hit a monster home run. That was the turning point."
Losing pitcher Rivas was 2-for-3 with a run for 2007 CWS champion Puerto Rico.
