Oh my, Josh: Jimenez heating up at just the right time for Lockney baseball
To say that Josh Jimenez is peaking at the right time would be an understatement.
After all, is there a better time to peak than the playoffs?
Jimenez, the big-hitting third baseman for Lockney, is having a torrid start to the postseason. Through four playoff games, the slugger is 8-for-12 with six runs, four RBI and two home runs.
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The most important stat of all, though, is that the Longhorns are 4-0 in the postseason thus far. That includes winning the area championship with a two-game sweep of Gruver.
After belting his second home run of the playoffs in an 8-6 win over the Greyhounds on the day prior, Jimenez went 2-for-3 while crossing home plate three times in a 16-6 rout of Gruver on Friday to sweep a Class 2A area round series.
So, Jimenez has been pretty good.
“He’s been hot,” Lockney head coach Payton Rhodes said. “I mean, there’s nothing else I can really say. That boy has had great at-bats and is swinging it well. There’s a reason he’s got two bombs in the playoffs right now."
Ask Jimenez what’s led to his surging playoff performance, however, and he insists he isn’t doing anything differently.
Heck, he doesn’t even take much credit for it.
“I’ve just been hitting the ball like I usually do,” Jimenez said. “I’m just putting it in play, and if it goes out it goes out.”
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The ball didn’t go out of the park Friday, but Jimenez was responsible for two of the Longhorns 10 hits and three of their 16 runs. After a narrow win the day before, it was all Longhorns after a seven run fourth innings.
It wasn’t the day Gruver had hoped for, but head coach Khris Kelp was proud of the effort all the same.
“We had a lot of fight,” he said. “I’m really proud of them for just coming out and battling some heat issues. We allow no excuses. I love to see them fight and I’m really proud of them for that. They’ve done that all season long.”
Leading 4-2 heading into the fourth, the Longhorns exploded for seven runs to go up 11-2. Jimenez credited his teammates for the turnaround.
“We brought our sticks in the fourth inning,” he said. “My team and us just got rowdy in the dugout and did what we do best.”
Rhodes credited it to a mental shift.
“We got out of our nervousness,” he said. “We quit being timid and started playing our game. We’ve played our game all year. We had a great game plan at the plate (entering the fourth) and we broke it open. These boys are very resilient and I’m very proud to coach these boys.”
The Longhorns (19-7) will face the winner of Ralls and Clarendon in the regional quarterfinals. Whoever they take on next, however, Jimenez doesn’t care. He plans to keep moving forward with the same confident approach he always has.
He’s got the same end goal he always has too.
“Just win,” he said. “Win.”
Lockney 16, Gruver 6
Lockney 202 75x x 0 0 0
Gruver 101 04x x 0 0 0
Dyllan Thiebaund and Austin Rodriguez (5) Rodriguez catching. Mason Gibson, Sutton Ward (4) Colton Millsap catching. W -- Thiebaund. L -- Gibson. 2B -- Lockney, Malaki Alvis. Records: Lockney 19-7; Gruver N/A.
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Josh Jimenez leads Lockney High School baseball to win over Gruver
