By Raul Garcia Jr.

The Mercedes Enterprise

The Mercedes Enterprise caught up the Tigers 10U Pony League baseball team before they headed out to Houston to compete in the Zone Tournament for a chance to go to the Pony League World Series. Here is what the players had to say about their baseball experience in the Meet the Tigers  Q&A.

Q. Name: Brody Izaguirre 

Q: Position: Right field

Q: Grade: 5th 

Q: School: Travis Elementary

Q. Parents: Crystal Gutierrez, Israel Izaguirre 

Q. What was your most memorable moment as a player on the baseball field?When I caught the ball in the air and hit a dinger 

Q. Do you have any routines or superstitions you do before your game?

Listen to my hype muisc

Q: How excited are you about your tournament? Very excited can’t believe we made it to zone 

Q: What are your individual and team goals for the tournament? To do my best and win and advance to next level

Q: What is the best baseball game you have ever seen? Astros

Q: Who’s the best baseball player of all time? Altuve 

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Q: Name? Liam Rincon 

Q.  Parents?  Melissa Adam and Louie Rincon 

Q: School? Hinojosa  Elementary

Q. Grade?  5th

Q. Baseball Position?  Pitcher, 1st 

Q. Do you have any routines or superstitions you do before your game? Listen to hype music

Q. What was your most memorable moment as a player on the baseball field? Hitting out of the park home run

Q: How excited are you about your tournament? Very excited 

Q: What are your individual and team goals for the tournament?

Hit a home run and team goal to win 

Q: What is the best baseball game you have ever seen? Yankees vs. Astros 

Q: Who’s the best baseball player of all time? Aaron Judge

Q. Name: Miles Palacios

Q.  Parents: Mike and Jessika Palacios

Q. School: Ruben Hinojosa Elementary 

Q.Grade? 5th

Q. Baseball Position? 2nd Base

Q. Do you have any routines or superstitions you do before your game? I pray.

Q. What was your most memorable moment as a player on the baseball field? When I caught a game winning out.

Q: How excited are you about your tournament? Very excited and a little nervous.

Q: What are your individual and team goals for the tournament?

My individual goal is to play my best out there and our team goal would probably be to advance in the tournament. 

Q: What is the best baseball game you have ever seen? The Astros no-hitter game against the Yankees last month.

Q: Who’s the best baseball player of all time? Babe Ruth

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Q. Name? Roman Garza

Q. Parents? Carlos & Sandy Garza

Q: School? Travis Elementary 

Q. Grade? 5th Grade

Q.  Baseball Position? 3rd / Pitcher

Q. What was your most memorable moment as a player on the baseball field? When my teammate hit two homeruns

Q: How excited are you about your tournament? Super excited! 

Q: What are your individual and team goals for the tournament? To help my team win it all and go to World Series

Q: What is the best baseball game you have ever seen? When the Astros played against the Royals. They were losing and game up to win the game. 

Q: Who’s the best baseball player of all time? Ken Griffey Jr. 

Q. Name? Morgan Herrera

Q. Parents? Marissa Mata & Jose Herrera

Q: School? Taylor Elementary

Q. Grade? 4th grade

Q. Baseball Position? Center field, Shortstop, & Pitcher

Q. Do you have any routines or superstitions you do before your game? I put on eye black crosses.

Q. What was your most memorable moment as a player on the baseball field? When I caught a line drive on the foul line in a Donna game. 

My dad started playing baseball with me. 

Q. What are your individual and team goals for the tournament?

Win and win

Q. What is the best baseball game you have ever seen? UT Austin vs. UTRGV baseball game

Q. Who’s the best baseball player of all time? Jose Altuve

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Q. Name? Xavier Alvarado 

Q. Parents?  Nathan and Stephanie Alvarado 

Q: School? Travis Elementary 

Q. Grade? 5th grade

Q. Baseball Position? First base, Pitcher, short-stop, and third base

Q. Do you have any routines or superstitions you do before your game? No I just warm up with my team. 

Q. What was your most memorable moment as a player on the baseball field? Recently one of my plays against Palmview, I was playing first base and a ball was hit towards me and I jumped as high as I could and I caught the ball for an out. 

Q: How excited are you about your tournament? I’m very excited to play in Houston against new teams. 

Q: What are your individual and team goals for the tournament? To try our best every game and advance to the Pony World Series. 

Q: What is the best baseball game you have ever seen? Last year my dad and I went to the Super Regional game which was Texas vs USF. One of the Texas players hit a walk off single for the win. 

Q: Who’s the best baseball player of all time? Derek Jeter

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Q. Name? LJ Ledesma

Q. Parents?  Leonel & Adriane Ledesma

Q. School? JFK Elementary 

Q. Grade? 5th

Q. Baseball Position ? Left Field

Q. Do you have any routines or superstitions you do before your game?

Watch funny baseball movies like sandlot and rookie of the year!

Q. What was your most memorable moment as a player on the baseball field? Throwing from left field to catcher to get an out.

Q. What did you work on to get ready for your next tournament?

I work on being better than the last game.

Q. How excited are you about your tournament? Anxious for a new experience and playing at that level of competition.

Q. What are your individual and team goals for the tournament? To play better every game.

Q. What is the best baseball game you have ever seen? Houston Astros against the Colorado Rockies.

Q. Who’s the best baseball player of all time? Babe Ruth

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Q Name: Ray Marroquin Jr 

Q: School? Travis Elementary 

Q: Grade? 5th

Q: Position? Catcher

Q. Parents? Ray and Lori Marroquin 

Q. Do you have any routines or superstitions you do before your game? Always wear my wristbands 

Q. What was your most memorable moment as a player on the baseball field? Winning our first championship 

Q:How excited are you about your tournament? Super excited 

Q: What are your individual and team goals for the tournament? Do my best. no errors 

Q: What is the best baseball game you have ever seen? Astros 

Q: Who’s the best baseball player of all time? David Ortiz 

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Q. Name?  Christopher Rivas

Q. Parents? Santiago and Denise Rivas

Q. School? Travis Elementary 

Q. Grade? 5th

Q. Position? Outfield 

Q. Do you have any routines or superstitions you do before your game? I throw the ball with teammates 

Q. What was your most memorable moment as a player on the baseball field? When we advanced to our zone tournament. 

Q: What did you work on to get ready for your next tournament? Everything.  Hitting, throwing, catching.

Q. How excited are you about your tournament? Very excited.   

Q. What are your individual and team goals for the tournament? Getting hits and on base no matter what.

Q. What is the best baseball game you have ever seen?

Red Sox vs Astros 2017 playoff game

Q. Who’s the best baseball player of all time? David Ortiz 

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Q. Name?  Ricardo Ayala 

Q. Parents?  Rodolfo and Gabrielle  Ayala

Q. School? Idea Weslaco Pike

Q.  Grade? 5th

Q.  Baseball Position? Shortstop and Pitcher

Q. How do you get ready for a game? Very excited and pumped 

Q. What was your most memorable moment as a player on the baseball field? When I got hit by the ball when it was hit to me but still got the batter out at first 

Q. How excited are you about your tournament? Very excited 

Q. What are your individual and team goals for the tournament? Better pitching, better batting

Q. Who’s the best baseball player of all time? Babe Ruth