FORT HANCOCK BASEBALL TEAM SUCCESS REPLACES DRUG VIOLENCE WORRIES

FORT HANCOCK -- This tiny close-knit farming community is on the
verge of smiling again.

As the Fort Hancock High School baseball team plows through the state
playoffs, the team's success has given townspeople something to brag
about, something to look forward to, something they hope will replace
all the negative publicity.

Talk of a state championship has replaced discussion about drug
cartel beheadings in Fort Hancock's sister city, El Porvenir,
Chihuahua. The anticipation of playing defending Class A state
champion Miles today in a regional quarterfinal playoff series has
replaced the anxiety that loomed over Fort Hancock before Easter,
when residents of El Porvenir were given 30 days by the drug cartels
to leave their homes or else.

"With baseball I think we've helped the town," said senior pitcher
Anthony Gonzalez. "We are giving people something good to say about
Fort Hancock, instead of what was being said before."

The heat of a national spotlight has been on Fort Hancock for three
months. Staff members of CNN, Fox News and The New York Times have
parachuted in to report on the drug war just across the border in Mexico.

The epicenter of the violence continues to be Juarez, where more than
5,420 people have died violently since 2008. Juarez had 2,643 murders
last year, five times as many as New York City.

Of late, violence has been worse in the Valley of Juarez. In towns
such as Guadalupe, San Ignacio and El Porvenir, all semblance of
order was lost as outlaws killed elected officials and police officers.

In El Porvenir, cartel members tried to burn down the Catholic
church. Those residents who could legally cross into the United
States sought refuge in Fort Hancock, about 50 miles east of El Paso.
Most people in this patch of West Texas have family on both sides of
the border.

That fluidity made Fort Hancock uneasy. It is connected to Mexico by
the two-lane Fort Hancock-El Porvenir International Bridge, and by
about 70 miles of open farmlands that are difficult to patrol.

Throughout March and April, Fort Hancock was quieter than normal.
Residents mostly remained inside at night.

About the only normal activity revolved around the schools and, of
course, the baseball team, which got hot at the same time. The
Mustangs rolled through district play undefeated, routinely scoring
15 runs a game. Last week, in the second round of the state playoffs,
the Fort Hancock team did not allow a run in two games.

Gonzalez, 17, struck out 14 batters and hit a monster home run.

"Since the start of the season, we said we wanted to go to state," he
said. "We've put the pressure on ourselves."

Baseball coach Armando Aguilar knows what is at stake starting today.
His Mustangs, with a 19-4-1 record, play Miles High School, 21-7, in
a best-of-three series.

"Our community is going to go crazy this weekend if we win," Aguilar
said. "We like our chances."

So does the rest of the town, said Gale Carr, a farmer and native of
Fort Hancock. His son, Ryan Franco, is an outfielder for the Mustangs.

Last weekend, Carr was with the team when it had to wait for a
tornado warning and hailstorm to pass through Crane, Texas. That
pushed the start of the playoff game back two hours, but the dark
clouds lifted with a Fort Hancock victory.

"We think this is our year," said Carr, who graduated from Fort
Hancock High School in 1985. "They have a little more concentration
and a little more discipline than in years past."

For the past three years, Fort Hancock has not been able to advance
past the third round of the state playoffs. The matchup with Miles is
another third-round opportunity.

"It's nice to have something positive here for the kids to rally
around," Carr said. "It's nice for them to see how hard work pays
off. They have been playing ball together since they were small.
Before things were dangerous over there (in Mexico) most of these
guys played baseball there."

Like most other Fort Hancock residents, the ballplayers do not cross
the Rio Grande anymore.

That is a good thing, said Hudspeth County sheriff's Sgt. Keith
Hughes. He has been patrolling the Fort Hancock area for three years.

Historically, Fort Hancock has been mostly free of crime. Hughes has
never had to investigate a murder in Fort Hancock. Though the drug
cartel violence has not spilled over, at least two Fort Hancock
residents believe a cartel has ordered a hit on them.

Their names appeared on a list posted in El Porvenir. Throughout
Mexico, cartel members often name and warn their targets beforehand.

"They are over here hiding," Hughes said. "We haven't seen them, but
they are not breaking the law by being here."

Fort Hancock sits on Alameda, or Texas Highway 20, between Interstate
10 and the Rio Grande. The town has about 1,700 residents.

Patrolling the area are about 190 law officers, most with the U.S.
Border Patrol. It has a station at the Fort Hancock port of entry.
Others work for U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the bridge. All
were on high alert in March and April.

"Things have calmed down, but we still have our guards up," Hughes said.

Residents say the violence in El Porvenir peaked the Saturday before
Easter. Trouble began right after Christmas and persisted for more
than three months. Easter Sunday was the first day of peace in El
Porvenir this year. That was also the day Mexican soldiers arrived to
re-establish order.

Now the troops are rotated in every week, so they do not form
allegiances with anyone in El Porvenir.

Fort Hancock resident Robert Cline lives within 50 yards of the Rio
Grande and the fence the U.S. government built last year to stop
illegal immigration. Cline, 42, said the violence in Mexico has not
affected him.

"I heard some shots one night but that was it," he said. "Most
everything we know about what is happening over there is hearsay. You
hear it from the men who work the fields here and live over there."

He said Fort Hancock residents do not live in fear.

"You just hear the stories, but we don't see the bloodshed," he said.
"We are safe over here."

Since the trouble peaked in the Valley of Juarez, Fort Hancock school
Super intendent Jose Franco has tried to keep life normal on campus.
He does not want his 148 high-school students fretting over what is
happening next door.

"The kids need to enjoy school and not worry about what is going on
across the border, but it isn't easy because they all have direct
ties over there," he said. "They all have grandparents or other
relatives living over there."

The baseball team's sweet spring has helped.

"They are looking good," he said. "The pitching staff is looking real good."

And then he smiled.