Written the week of June 1-7, 2026
This week the Arkansas Travelers come to town, and we didn’t play them well in their home stadium back in April. The Hooks lost 5 out of 6 at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock, Arkansas. Three games out of first, we need to make up ground. As one coach said in San Antonio, no need to panic, but the team needs to play with urgency. That is even more true this series. Three series remain in the first half of the season.
I remind you that solid pitching and timely hitting wins championships. The Hooks have 18 games remaining to make up a 3-game deficit to win the first half of the Texas League season. Let’s see if they put the ingredients together to make that run.
I was not able to sit in my left field seat on Tuesday, so I headed to the seat with my name on it, Section 118, Row 2, Seat 5. My initial disappointment turned into an unforgettable evening with James Enriquez and his son.
James was at his first game in years, and I listened to him as he explained the game to his 20-year-old son, Mark. After hearing James’s exceptional analysis of the baseball action, I asked if he was or had been a coach.
“No.”
“What position did you play in high school?”
“I didn’t.”
He was a trainer during his high school years, a position my youngest brother held through high school and college. Brother Bill’s path led him to the medical field where he recently retired from NASA as a doctor to the astronauts. James has followed a similar path as a physician’s assistant.
James has a real passion for baseball, developed during his childhood as he watched games on TV with his dad. Now he was sharing that passion with Mark and me. Hearing his observations of the pitcher’s next throw, often quite accurate, helped me watch the pitch-by-pitch game with greater focus.
That reminds me of what I’ve noticed about me and this season. From the beginning I’ve said this will be a championship year for the Corpus Christi Hooks. They’ve only claimed that title once, and it remains a distant memory from 2006.
Who won the Super Bowl in 2006? Who won the World Series in 2006? If you know either of those answers, it was probably your team who won or lost. We forget how transient the moments are. Here, gone, and often forgotten.
I believe my statement to be true. I’ve believed it since September of last season, the Hooks’ worst one on record. Either God whispered the news in my thoughts or, out of sheer frustration, I latched on to false hope. The season’s end will reveal which one to be true.
Nevertheless, I find that the ultimate prize, attained or not, will make no difference in my investment in this season. I am reaping rewards that I never imagined. To be invested means I grieve with losses and rejoice in wins, and I find both the highs and lows—the “Oh, wows!” and the “Oh, nos!”—bring blessings and benefits.
Okay, so what about the games this week? Good question, and welcome to a ton of those “Oh, wows!” and “Oh, nos!”
In game 1, the Hooks scored 4 runs in the first inning. Oh, wow! With that start, the game shouldn’t have been close, but it was.
The Travelers hit 6 home runs. Oh, no! With that many homers, the game shouldn’t have been close, but it was.
In the bottom of the 1st, with bases loaded, Tyler Whitaker laced a double down the first base line to clear the bases for a 3-0 lead. When a wild pitch skipped to the backstop and the catcher searched for the stray ball, Tyler raced from 2nd, sprinted around 3rd,and scored the 4th run. Oh, wow!
Arkansas would eventually tie up the game in the 5th, one solo home run at a time. Oh, no! They’d take the lead in the 6th with a 2-run blast. Oh, no! Oh, no!
Yamal Encarnacion would walk in the bottom of the 6th, steal 2nd, and then 3rd on a throwing error by the catcher. Next thing you know, he’s a crafty thief stealing home to make it 6-5. Oh, wow! Oh, wow! Oh, wow!
We score 2 in the 7th inning on a Joseph Sullivan III RBI single and a Drew Brutcher RBI single, Hooks 7-Travelers 6. Oh, wow! Oh, wow!
A leadoff homer, #6 for the Travelers, ties up the game in the 8th. Oh, no! They score 2 more in the 9th to take the lead, 9-7. Oh, no!
The Hooks come up to bat. A single. Oh! A walk. Ohh! A walk. Ohhh! Strikeout. Aw! Strikeout. Aw! A wild pitch. Run scores. 9-8. Ohhhhh? Groundout. NO!!!
Solid pitching + timely hitting = a winning combination. In this game we had the timely hitting throughout, but we didn’t have our usual solid pitching. And, in the end, the Travelers got timely home runs, while the Hooks came one hit short of a win. Oh, no!
After the game I said to James, “It was a great game, but disappointing.”
He answered, “It was a great game, not disappointing at all.”
When you haven’t been to a game in a really long time, Tuesday’s game really was great.
During the game I sent a text to Ellen. “Talking with James, who really knows his baseball. It’s going to be a fun night.” And, oh, wow, it was.
Wednesday the Hooks had Christian Javier, Astro starting pitcher, in town for a rehab assignment. Before the game, I spoke with Sonia, whose family housed several Hooks’ players, including Christian Javier, before COVID-19 changed everything.
Javier originally arrived in Corpus Christi the weekend of Mother’s Day, 2019, so Sonia’s first 24 hours with him included a shopping trip to buy her mother a Mother’s Day present. Osvaldo Duarte, Jose Urquidy, and Christian Javier encouraged the outing and paid for the gift.
Javier started Wednesday’s game and did not last long, 28 pitches. He gave up 2 hits, 2 walks, and 2 runs, striking out 2.
If he reached his pitch limit, a very low one, I’ll see him again later this week. If he struggled due to injury, I’ll see his name back on the IL (Injury List). We should all know by the time I post this and you read it. (But the transaction wire didn’t tell me anything, so I still don’t know.)
In the 2nd inning, the Travelers hit into a 4-6-3 double, which was great. Unfortunately, the good feeling lasted until the next at bat, another solo home run and a 3-0 lead. By the time I finished texting Ellen, the Travelers had 2 more home runs and a 6-0 lead. She responded, “Good grief. It’s only the 2nd inning.”
I felt that the team lacked energy and described how I felt to Ellen. The players moved with all the energy of a person who had just lost his dog. Anyone who’s lost a dog knows the feeling.
6-0 became 8-0 when Michael Arroyo hit a 2-run (Doggone it! Again!) homer. I needed a hug, a snuggly blanket, and a stiff drink. It was going to be a long, long night.
Then…
Ellen: What is happening?????
Me: I’m almost afraid to say. Bases loaded, no outs, Yamal batting.
Ellen: Come on Hooks!!!!!!
Yamal walked, and we scored our first run. Drew Brutcher belted a grand slam, and suddenly my dog was very much alive. I came a step away from checking off “get a grand slam ball” from my baseball bucket list. Pesky kids and their boundless energy!
In the 5th inning, Bryce Mayer pitched himself into trouble with two singles, a walk, and a hit by pitch to give the Travelers a 9-5 lead. He followed that with 2 strikeouts and a fly out by Lazaro Montes, the guy with 3 home runs in 2 days.
In the 6th, Mayer pitched a 1-2-3 inning, and as you know if you’ve been with me this whole season, I love those 1-2-3 innings.
Until I don’t!
Arkansas pitcher Abdiel Mendoza matched Mayer with his own 1-2-3 inning.
In the 7th and 8th innings, Arkansas added 3 more runs to take a 12-5 lead. Corpus Christi would respond with 2 runs in the bottom of the 8th on a double by Jax Biggers.
Jax originally appeared at Whataburger Field in 2021 with Frisco. On one occasion, he had an extraordinary day. The next day I said, “Jax Biggers, I saw you yesterday. Great game. Would you sign today’s ticket please?”
Steele Walker took the ticket without correcting me and signed it. By the way, aren’t those both great baseball names?
Later, when I discovered my mistake, I thanked Steele for being so gracious and kind to an excitable old man.
I liked Jax Biggers in 2021 with Frisco, and I like him now with the Hooks.
Trey McLoughlin pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the 9th. Loved it!
With 2 outs, Drew Brutcher singled into left field, knocking in Jason Schiavone and pesky Yamal Encarnacion to make it 12-9.
The game would end with Garret Guillemette’s sharp grounder to 2nd baseman Blake Rambusch.
I need to pause before we go on to the rest of the series. Pitching did not hold up their end of the winning equation, but they will. Our batters scoring 17 runs in 2 games usually does equal wins, but not in the first two games.
I saw solid hits that ended up outs, Guillemette’s being the latest example. Eventually, those will naturally evolve into clean hits, and, if timely, they’ll result in runs scored. I see it, and I know the coaches and players do too.
Something even more encouraging happened after the game. The players didn’t ignore the boys and girls who wanted autographs. They stopped, talked with the kids, and signed gloves, shirts, balls, cards, and pretty much whatever the kids pushed in front of them.
One boy asked for a bat from Garret Guillemette. Our catcher explained he only had two. What if he broke one? Then what? That certainly happens in games. In the end, Garret did allow the boy to hold his bat while he autographed a ball.
In Thursday’s game pitching performed well. They limited the Travelers to a single home run and gave up only 3 runs. Could we get timely hitting, the other part of the winning combination?
Before we get to the game, let me share a story that reflects the transitory nature of life in general and Minor League Baseball in particular.
Fred and Mary are my seat neighbors on Thursdays and Saturdays. I have seat 5. Their seats are 1-4.
Earlier in the week, Fred texted Mary, “I can’t believe he’s gone.”
I’m pretty sure your first thought matches Mary’s. Who died?
A picture popped up of a recently promoted player, Pascanel Ferreras. He’s beloved by many here in Corpus Christi, including Fred, and me as well. Fred admitted to a few tears when he read the news.
Mary’s response? Eye roll!
Their story is a reminder of how many players have come and gone since the season started. Joey Mancini, Brandon McPherson, Wilmy Sanchez, John Garcia, Walker Janek, Pascanel Ferreras, James Nelson, Tommy Sacco Jr., and Luis Baez, all are from the opening day roster and all are gone—promoted, demoted, injured, traded, or released.
Michael Cuevas, Jose Guedez, Hudson Leach, August Cuneo, Jason Schiavone, Jax Biggers, Max Holy, Jeron Williams, and Drew Brutcher weren’t on the opening day roster but are on today’s. Others have passed through briefly as well.
Sniff, sniff.
But what about the game? Did the Hooks get timely hitting?
James Hicks pitched three 1-2-3 innings to start the game. Loved it!
The Hooks scored with a timely hit in the 3rd. They’d go 2 for 5 with runners in scoring position. That is both decent and surprising. Was it enough?
Caleb Cali homered in the 4th for Arkansas. The Hooks’ batters followed with a 1-2-3 inning that left us tied at 1-1. I really hated that.
In the 5th, 2nd baseman Jax Biggers caught a grounder, raced to 2nd, then zipped a strike to 1st baseman Garret Guillemette in a bang-bang play that ended Arkansas’ at bat and prevented the go-ahead run. That was timely defense, a forgotten part of winning ball games.
A 1-2-3 6th inning with James Hicks’ solid pitching preceded Jason Schiavone’s single to score Tyle Whitaker from 2nd, timely hitting. We led 2-1 after 6 complete.
Hunter Fitz-Gerald smacked what appeared to be another Travelers’ home run. Whether it would have been or not, Jeron Williams made another superb catch in right field.
In case you’re asking, “Another?” He did the same thing in the last series in San Antonio.
A double, a wild pitch, and a single later, Arkansas tied it up again. In the 9th, they’d get a walk, a wild pitch, and double to take the lead, 3-2. That pesky walk would make the difference between a Hooks’ loss and extra innings.
In the end Arkansas got the timely hits to win the game, and we did not.
Four games into the series, I have discovered the story’s antagonist, the nemesis that needs to be overcome. We’ve played the Travelers 10 times and currently stand 1 win against 9 losses. The Arkansas series hasn’t gotten us closer to the goal, winning the first half of the South division, but miles further away.
I won’t rehash the game 4 thumping outside of a few observations and the final score, Travelers 6-Corpus Christi 0. It was the seventh time this season that the Hooks have been shut out. Arkansas’ pitching leads the Texas League with 9 shutouts, including Friday’s game against us.
The current MLB top 100 prospects list includes four current players on Arkansas’ roster. #6 Kade Anderson pitched the shutout on Friday. #20 Ryan Sloan won Texas League Pitcher of the Week at the end of May. #28 Lazaro Montes has hit four home runs in as many games this week. #46 Michael Arroyo added two more home runs and scads of hits this week. Arkansas is a formidable foe, the Thanos to our Iron Man.
This is a minor league baseball season and not a Marvel Cinema Universe story. Yet it has the possibility of being a Corpus Christi blockbuster, and it is following a very clear story arc. Hero is in everyday world. An inciting incident, start of the baseball season, moves our hero on a quest. Hero meets challenges, overcomes challenges, and appears to be on the verge of success.
The hero ends up out on a limb. Limb is cut off. That’s where we find ourselves at this juncture of the season. The Travelers cut off the limb which held the promise of rallying to capture the 1st half playoff spot. The Travelers have closed to within half a game of 1st place Tulsa in the North. We’ve dropped within a game of last-place San Antonio in the South.
Back to the games.
Saturday, good friend Johnny Solis, Ellen, and I sat in left field for a thrilling game 5. This would be a nail-biter, played in a “crisp 3 hours and 21 minutes,”—the radio announcer’s summary after it was all over.
A pattern for the night developed from the 1st inning. Arkansas would get a lead. Corpus Christi would respond, but the response wouldn’t hold. Or would it?
Arkansas scored on a walk, steal, and single in the top of the 1st. The Hooks followed up in the bottom of the inning with a Max Holy single, steal, and a Lucas Spence 2-run homer. Trevor Austin’s clout made it back-to-back home runs and a 3-1 Hooks’ lead.
In the 3rd, Arkansas retook the lead 4-3 on a walk and 3 timely hits. Trevor Austin tied it all up with his 2nd round tripper of the night.
In the 4th, we’d take a 5-4 lead on an improbable combination of back-to-back triples by Garret Guillemette and Jax Biggers.
Jason Schiavone homered in the 5th to extend our lead to 6-4. A two-out double by Garret Guillemette would bring Yamal Encarnacion home for a 7-4 lead.
In the 6th, the Travelers would close to within one, 7-6, after a walk, single, wild pitch combo got in one run, and a sharp line drive single got in the second. In the 7th, they’d tie up the game 7-7. You have to imagine sitting in left field willing our team to stop the bleeding and being powerless to change Arkansas’ momentum.
We’d get the bases loaded in the bottom of the 7th, but nary a timely hit showed up.
Until it did, in the 8th, for the other team. Two horrible things happened in that inning. The first was Charlie Pagliarini’s home run. The second was when Hunter Fitz-Gerald’s sharply hit single dropped pitcher Railin Perez when the ball glanced off his glove and clobbered him in the face.
This is the box score description of that moment. “Hunter Fitz-Gerald singles on a line drive to third baseman Jax Biggers, deflected by pitcher Railin Perez.”
Nothing in that description captures the absolute gut-wrenching horror of seeing it happen live.
Railin remained on the ground for way too many ticks of the clock, but he did get up and walk off the field unaided. The next day I received two separate reports that he was okay.
In the next at bat, with Trey McLoughlin pitching in relief, power-hitting Lazaro Montes grounded into the weirdest double play, one that left Johnny and me looking at each other and asking, “What just happened?”
Here’s how it got weird. Someone scooped up the ball near 2nd base, saw that he couldn’t beat the runner to 2nd, threw to 1st for the out, and shortstop Max Holy noticed 3rd base had no one covering it. So did Hunter Fitz-Gerald. Max raced to cover the base just ahead of Hunter, caught the throw from 1st baseman Garret Gullemette, and tagged out the runner.
The “someone” who scooped up the ball near second base would normally be the shortstop, but how did Max Holy make the throw to first then beat Fitz-Gerald to 3rd base? He didn’t, because the “someone” was 3rd baseman Jax Biggers. Johnny and I both had to check the box score to figure out what happened right in front of us.
With the score 8-7 Travelers, Max Holy led off the bottom half of the 8th with a single. Lucas Spence had a productive out as his grounder advanced Max to 2nd. Jason Schiavone slapped a ground ball into left field, and Max rounded 3rd to easily score and tie up the game.
Yamal Encarnacion shot a grounder down the 3rd base line that ended up in the left field corner. Schiavone raced from 1st base. Our manager and 3rd base coach Ricky Rivera started windmilling before he even touched 2nd and didn’t stop until Schiavone scored the go-ahead run. Yamal ended up with a triple, the 3rd of the night for the Hooks.
It was now 9-8 Hooks, but would a 1-run lead be enough?
It sure would! A single, groundout, fly out, strikeout ended the nearly 3½-hour contest in favor of the Hooks.
How would we end the series?
First of all, Trey Dombroski would pitch lights out for 5.2 innings. I’d tell you the score when he left the mound, but that’d give away too much information too early in the recounting of the game.
Jim Cologna texted: Are you at the game?
Me: It’s a great evening to be out here. 2 early home runs and excellent defense. They are doing well.
Joseph Sullivan III hit a line drive into the Travelers’ bullpen in the 1st inning to give us the lead. Lucas Spence would follow his lead with another shot into the opponents’ bullpen. We go up 2-0 in the 2nd.
Jason Schiavone and Trevor Austin would hit back-to-back jacks in the 4th, and we’d go up 4-0.
In the 5th, Yamal Encarnacion singled. Yamal stole 2nd. Yamal stole 3rd. Yamal stole home for the 2nd time this week. Joseph Sullivan III walked. Sully stole 2nd. Sully scored on a Schiavone single into right center. We go up 6-0.
Dombroski continued to pitch well through all 5 innings. In the 6th, he ended his night with 2 on, 2 out, and a 6-0 lead. Relief entered the game and faced the next batter. When relief got the final out, the score was 6-3. Lazaro Montes hit his 5th home run in 6 days.
From that point on, reliever after reliever came in to give up 3 in the 6th, 2 in the 7th, 3 in the 8th, and 3 in the 9th. The score went from 6-0 to 6-3 to 6-5 to 6-8 to a final of 6-11. The Corpus Christi Hooks writeup posted under the banner: Hooks Lose Large Lead, Travs Steal Sunday. They didn’t just rob us. They committed aggravated assault.
By the end of this series, with the crushing blow of Sunday’s game, hope died.
The Arkansas Travelers aren’t villains. They are guys who play baseball very well. While we dropped to a tie for last place, they remained a game and a half out of first.
Before they left, in fact while we had the lead, I visited the Traveler bullpen in hopes of retrieving Spence’s home run ball in the 2nd inning. At that time, I said that I’d come to Arkansas for the Texas League Championship series if both they and the Hooks meet in September.
After this week, Arkansas’ chances look possible, if not probable. Ours? Not so much.
Despite the bummer week at Whataburger Field, I do see lots to celebrate. For one, we steal bases. Lots of them. Even home! Twice this week. That base-stealing DNA is infused throughout the whole team.
Second, our hitting, and with power, picked up in this series, especially in the last 2 games. Trevor Austin and Jason Schiavone really broke out in games 5 and 6. Trevor’s been a terror at the plate for a couple of weeks now.
Third, we’ve had series where pitching did well, but the bats were quiet. This week the trend flipped. We scored plenty of runs in all but two games in this series. Traveler hitting steamrolled our pitching staff most of the week.
Fourth, like the series in Arkansas, we had a chance to win every game except for the shutout. In half the games a single run made the difference between winning and losing.
Borrowing from the Marvel Cinema Universe, this week was our Infinity War. For those who don’t understand the reference, Infinity War is the first of a 2-part movie series. It ends in ashes for Iron Man and his heroic compatriots. The End Game completes the story, and that is what the Hooks will be playing for in part two of the season.
Let’s go Hooks!
Arkansas 9-Corpus Christi 8 L
Arkansas 12-Corpus Christi 9 L
Arkansas 3-Corpus Christi 2 L
Arkansas 6-Corpus Christi 0 L
Arkansas 8-Corpus Christi 9 W
Arkansas 11-Corpus Christi 6 L
Texas League South standings
Frisco 30-25
Midland 29-27
Amarillo 27-29
Corpus Christi 25-32
San Antonio 25-32
Baseball, Bikes, Birds and the Bible 
Leave a comment