Competing against high level competition in non-district play can only prepare a team for greater success come district time.

The Panthers baseball team did just that last week in a trip over four hours east from home.

Fort Stockton ventured to the San Antonio Southwest ISD Tournament on March 3-5, matching up with schools far greater in size over the course of the three-day tournament.

The Panthers began the competition on March 3 with a 5-0 victory against Class 5A Southwest Legacy High School out of San Antonio and followed with win (10-0) over another 5A school in Highlands out of San Antonio on March 4.

Fort Stockton concluded the event with a pair of losses to McAllen Rowe and familiar foe Lakeview.

Cruz Rojas put forth the most dominant pitching performance for the Panthers at the tournament. The junior struck out nine batters and walked one to earn a victory against Southwest Legacy in a six-inning appearance.

Josiah Trejo threw a complete game no-hitter against Highlands to pickup a win on the mound in the four-inning contest.

Panther batters who had multi-hit games at the tournament included Felipe Sotelo, who had a team-best three two-hit games, Marco Garcia, Jaydrien Ramirez, Dominic Bernal, Corbin Luna, and Alfredo Molina.

Fort Stockton 5 Southwest Legacy 0

The Panthers improved their record to 6-1 with a 5-0 victory over San Antonio Southwest Legacy on March 3 in the first game of the San Antonio Southwest ISD Tournament.

Cruz Rojas pitched six innings and allowed one hit in his second win of the season on the mound.

Isaiah Velasquez pitched the seventh inning for the Panthers in relief, striking out two Legacy hitters.

Jaydrien Ramirez led the Panthers offensively with two doubles and 2 RBIs. Dominic Bernal had two singles and two RBIs.

Felipe Sotelo and Marco Garcia each had two singles on the night.

Fort Stockton 10 Highlands 0

The Fort Stockton baseball team improved to 7-1 after Friday’s defeat of San Antonio Highlands.

Josiah Trejo recorded five hitless innings on and had three strikeouts in the outing.

“Trejo had solid defense behind him all game,” Panthers head coach Daniel Trejo said. “The offense for the Panthers was stellar. Great plate appearances and timely hits led the Panthers to scoring 10 runs.”

Rowe 8 Fort Stockton 0

The Panthers went up against a talented 5A team in McAllen Rowe to conclude play on March 4. The Panthers ended up losing the battle 8-0.

Freshman Rylan Nunez got the start for the Panthers and tossed four compete innings before being relieved by Julian Leyva and Velasquez.

“Xzavier Dominguez had a hard hit single early in the game. Felipe Sotelo got himself a double. There were multiple hard hit baseballs, unfortunately Rowe was at the right place for most of the game,” Rojo said.

Lakeview 8 Fort Stockton 7

The Fort Stockton Baseball team concluded the San Antonio Southwest ISD Tournament on March 5 with an 8-7 loss to San Angelo Lakeview in a five-inning game.

Sotelo got the start on the mound and pitched 2.2 innings. Ethan Acosta relieved Sotelo and made his first appearance of the season. Velasquez had closing duties in the loss.

Ramirez and Acosta led the Panthers with two RBIs apiece.

The Panthers will head into spring break with a 7-3 record. They will travel to Snyder on March 11 for tournament play.