Baseball stars clash tonight

There was no hiding Albert Leal's excitement. The Brownsville Lopez coach is so pumped about coaching the East squad in today's senior All-Star game, one would think he will be suiting up for the 5 p.m. contest at La Joya.

"I'm really looking forward to it," Leal said. "This is the first time I have coached an All-Star game, and I am excited abut it. We are going out there to win it."

All-Star games are tough to coach because of the balancing act a manager must perform in order to give everybody playing time. The one thing Leal is sure about is starting The Monitor All-Valley MVP Henry Garcia on the mound.

"You're darn right I'm going to start Henry," Leal said. "He's the MVP of the Valley. I would be crazy not to start him."

Garcia will attend NCAA Division I Texas A&M-Corpus Christi next season after a solid senior campaign in which he recorded a minute 0.47 ERA and struck out 153. He was 8-2 and walked only nine in 73 innings pitched.

West coach Barton Bickerton of Sharyland expects Garcia to be tough, especially with only one practice before the game.

"It is hard to say," Bickerton said about his team jumping on Garcia offensively. "If it was Sharyland, I could say we could hit him. But we have only had one practice. I don't think they would throw him for the entire game. You never know what is going to happen."

Bickerton expects to start Mission's Steve Gonzalez. The West squad is down to only three regular pitchers because original team members will be out of town.

Leal is hoping he can help the East end its seven-game skid against the West, which leads the all-time series 20-5. Leal was impressed with his players during the team's practice Wednesday and thinks this could be the year the East finishes on top, but he stopped short of making a guarantee.

"We are determined, of course, to win it," Leal said. "I'm saying we have a talented group. I am not going to say we are going to win it, but we need to stop this losing streak we are on."

La Joya's Reuben Farias, who also is coaching the West team, wasn't about to guarantee a win for the West either.

"I think both groups have some pretty good players," he said. "There is talent on both sides, so there will be no guarantees from me."

Peter Rasmussen covers high school baseball for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4448.