The Memorial Vipers baseball team is becoming a farm system
for catchers at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Roman Madrid signed a letter-of-intent to play for the Islanders on Tuesday, becoming the second Viper catcher in a row to leave Memorial to play at the Corpus Christi university.
"It's close to home and they play Texas and Rice and that will be fun," said Madrid, who will join former Memorial catcher Chase Garcia at TAMUCC. "I think it will be a good switch from here to there. They like my arm and that's why they wanted me. They don't know I can hit yet, but I can."
Madrid is receiving a scholarship to pay for his tuition and fees, and will continue to play catcher at the Division I university which plays in the Southland Conference.
"He's worked really hard in the offseason and does everything we ask him to do and more," Memorial coach Manuel Alvarado said. "He's a great leader for our team and deserves everything that he's getting."
Madrid is coming off a District 27-5A second team performance as a junior. He hit .474 last year and three home runs, but still considers his strength being behind the plate and that he will have to keep working on his hitting.
"I think picking up on calling pitches is going to come easy for me," Madrid said. "I have always been able to play defense, but I do need to work on my hitting moving into college. Sitting back on the curve ball is an area I have to work on. I have to make pitchers pay when they leave one out there for me."
With his college choice in the books, Madrid can now focus on his last high school season.
"I have nothing to worry about now except for making it to state," Madrid said.
Memorial senior tosses 2nd straight no-hitter
Vipers pull even with Rockets in district
Memorial's Roman Madrid was stunning
with 14 strikeouts, wild with eight
walks and mystifying in throwing his
second consecutive no-hitter.
"This one was big," said Madrid, who led the Vipers to a 2-1 District 27-5A win over Converse Judson on Friday at Riverside Stadium. "Not only was it against Judson, but it really helps us move toward our goal of making the playoffs. I don't know how I got out of that."
Madrid's no-hitter was the third straight Memorial no-hitter at home, but more importantly it puts the Vipers in a tie with Judson for third place with one game to play.
Memorial (10-14, 8-5 District 27-5A) finishes the regular season next Friday at San Antonio East Central (1-12), while the Rockets (13-14, 8-5) complete their schedule with a home game against district-leading Corpus Christi Carroll (11-1).
Madrid's no-hitter was far from perfect, but it was effective.
The senior, who has signed to pitch at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, walked the bases loaded in the second inning with one out before striking out the next two hitters. He walked three more Rockets in the sixth and allowed Judson's only run of the game to score on a wild pitch. But he didn't cave like in some early season losses that he took.
"We told him to settle down and that's what he did," Memorial head coach Manuel Alvarado said. "After the game I told him that he had conquered his demons and that's what he had to do. He battled through adversity and did a great job for us."
Madrid's success wasn't limited to the mound.
He delivered an RBI double to score Jacob Salinas from first base in the fifth inning for the Vipers' second run of the game.
"He had been throwing me curve balls all night," said Madrid, who finished the game 2-for-3 with two doubles after striking out in the first inning. "The first time I was impatient, but then I waited back and timed it perfect."
Trent Wagner hit a sacrifice fly in the third inning for Memorial's first run, driving in shortstop Zachary Valenzuela who had led the inning off with a single. Jordan Pacheco, who threw Memorial's first no-hitter against South San two weeks ago, also singled for the Vipers, who finished with five hits in the game.
"We have a lot of confidence in themselves right now," Alvarado said. "I've always thought that we have two of the best pitchers in the district, and now we're showing it. They just love to compete. When they're on, they're tough to hit and we're tough to beat.
"We still have one more to go that we need to win, but this was really big to getting us to where we want to go."