CORPUS CHRISTI — Those other Wildcats can wait, and those Trojans can hold their horses.

On Tuesday night, a young Tuloso-Midway baseball team chose to put its focus on Gregory-Portland and took the teams' season opener, 5-1 at Whataburger Field.

A much smaller crowd dotted the stadium seats Tuesday than had seen Warriors District 31-4A foe Moody the night before, at the same moment another district opponent, Calallen, began its defense of its regional title.

"That's exactly where we want to be. We want those guys to get all the high and mighties, and we'll stay under the radar and steal some wins," said T-M coach Mike Davila, referencing Calallen and Moody — Nos. 2 and 3, respectively, in the preseason Class 4A rankings.

Ryan Skoruppa (1-0) went the distance for T-M, allowing one earned run while scattering six hits, five walks and eight strikeouts as the Warriors used timely hitting and solid defense to stifle the Wildcats.

"We played against a well-coached team tonight, and we did a poor job with our situational hitting," Gregory-Portland coach Fred Flores said. "We went up there and we were real selfish at the plate and didn't get the runner over."

Only two Wildcats made it to third base. The first scored the team's only run on a throwing error in the fourth inning, and the other arrived at third on a fifth-inning balk before Skoruppa struck out back-to-back batters to end the rally.

The Warriors' senior southpaw had a shutout through three innings, aided by second baseman Tommy De Los Santos' diving catch in the first and a strikeout-throwout double play in the second.

"I felt pretty strong, and our defense really backed me up out there," Skoruppa said. "This year we have a bunch of new guys, but we're going to grind it down and hope we can get victories."

The Wildcats plated their lone run in the fourth as designated hitter Steven Roggeman led off with a walk and later scored on an errant throw to second by Warriors catcher Drew Mitchell. It was reminiscent of the first run of the game, when Curtis Burch scored on Ervin Polasek's throwing error in the second.

The Warriors drove G-P starter Blake Lowry from the mound in the third inning. De Los Santos led off with a double, moved to second on a Mitchell bunt and scored on Rudy Valent's double.

Valent then scored on a wild pitch to make it 3-0, and T-M loaded the bases with a walk, single and bunt single before reliever Buddy Rodriquez came in to get two quick outs and end the threat.

Rodriquez rode out the game, allowing the Warriors' final two unearned runs in the fourth, giving up two hits in just under four innings' work and striking out two.

"We lack experience, but we've been working very hard in practice, and our kids have bought into what we're doing," Davila said. "Hard work's going to make these games a lot easier. Out of the field, it's going to come naturally. We're going to do things that we're doing a thousand times in practice."

WARRIORS 5, WILDCATS 1

GP 000 100 0—1 6 2

T-M 012 200 x — 5 7 1

WP — Skoruppa (1-0). LP — Lowry (0-1). 2B — GP Lowry; T-M De Los Santos, Valent. Highlights — T-M: Skoruppa CG, 0ER, 6H, 8K; De Los Santos 2-4, 2R; Burch 2-3, R, RBI. Records: GP 0-1, T-M 1-0.