Malachi Deleon

Dante Martinez was absolutely perfect on Monday.

Martinez, the Tyler High senior pitcher, tossed a perfect game in leading the Lions to a 13-0 five-inning victory over the Winona Wildcats at Christus Trinity Mother Frances Mike Carter Field.

He struck out 14 of 15 batters and did not walk a batter.

Martinez was 1-for-1 at the plate, walked three times and scored two runs. The speedster also stole four bases.

Tyler Coach Seth Gibson said “Wow” when describing the dominance of Martinez.

Adding hits for the Lions were Da’Markous Pierce, Malachi Deleon and Micah Johnson.

Deleon knocked in two runs with Pierce and Johnson getting an RBI apiece.

Others scoring runs were Nicolas Viramontes (2), Felipe Velazquez (2), Johnson (2), Oscar Salas-Santibanez (2), Deleon (1), J. Higuera (1) and Markeez Potts (1).

Tyler scored five runs in the first and seven in the second inning. The Lions added a single run in the fourth.

It was the first win of the season for the Lions as they improve to 1-9.

Tyler’s next game is scheduled for Tuesday, March 12 as District 15-5A begins play. The Lions travel to Longview to meet the Lobos in a 7 p.m. contest. The Lions’ JV will play the Lobos at 4:30 p.m. They then play at Whitehouse on Friday, March 15 with JV at 4:30 p.m. and the varsity at 7 p.m.

The Lions’ first home district game is slated for 7 p.m. March 19 against Pine Tree.

The Lions Blue JV also won, taking a 15-0 win over the JV Wildcats. They improve to 3-4.

Winona was scheduled to play at Martin’s Mill on Tuesday before beginning Distict 13-3A on Tuesday, March 12, hosting Winnsboro at 7 p.m. The JV is slated to start at 5 p.m.