Riverside’s dream baseball run comes to an end in Sweet 16 vs. Stephenville

MIDLAND, Texas - As the last remaining team from the city in the Texas High School State Baseball Tournament, the Riverside Rangers were indeed the "Lone Rangers."

But after running into an athletic Stephenville team, in the Regional Semifinals, the Rangers bowed out in sweeping fashion. Stephenville won Game 1 of the series on Friday by a score of 11-6, and followed that up with a 6-0 shutout victory in Game 2 Saturday to close the book on the Rangers season.

Stephenville starting pitcher Reece Elston blanked the Riverside bats in Game 2 with a shutout, coming on the heels of Game 1 where the Rangers couldn't pull ahead from a 5-5 tie in the 4th inning.

Riverside coach Rick Solis thought his team could played better.

"I think the better team won, but I think we could have played better to give ourselves a chance," said Solis, who was making his first Sweet 16 appearance as Riverside coach. "We talked about leading up to the best series that we played it's not necessarily the best team that's going to win, it's about who plays better."

The Rangers will lose do-it-all pitcher/hitter Aaron Aguilar next season, but will return young pieces like Orlando Samaniego and Dereck Alvarez.