Escamilla leaving Alice baseball program

Alice High School is in need of a new baseball coach.

Longtime Alice baseball coach Victor Escamilla recently officially resigned from the district and was hired at Ronald Reagan High School.

He leaves as the Coyote baseball program’s winningest coach. Alice was in the postseason in nine of his 17 seasons here.

Escamilla said the move is good for him and his family.

“Ruth, Tyler, Lauren and I appreciate the friends and colleagues that have been a part of our lives here in Alice,” Escamilla said. “We take with us nothing but fond memories as we close one chapter and begin another.”

Escamilla, who was named Alice High School’s teacher of the year in 2010 and 2011, accepted a teaching job and assistant coaching position at Reagan High School in San Antonio. Escamilla will serve as assistant football and baseball coach.

Reagan High School is part of the North East Independent School District.

On the baseball team, the Corpus Christi native replaces former Reagan assistant Reagan Moczygemba, who recently became the head baseball coach at San Antonio Brandeis High School. Moczygemba was an assistant at Reagan for three seasons. Escamilla will work under Reagan baseball coach Chans Chapman, who Escamilla once coached.

In the last three seasons, the Rattler baseball program had a combined record of 92-21, including an appearance in the Class 6A state championship against Flower Mound in 2015. The Rattlers reached the state Region IV-6A semifinals this season.

Escamilla began his coaching career in Alice in 1993. After spending several seasons as an assistant under then-head baseball coach Alvaro Villalon, he took a head coaching job at Edinburg North. He returned to Alice and took over the baseball program before the 1999 season. Although Alice hadn’t been to the state baseball playoffs since 1970, the Coyotes reached the Region IV-4A championship that season and again in 2000.

The Coyotes were in the state playoffs in 2013, but missed the postseason in 2014 and 2015.

Alice athletic director Chris Soza said Escamilla’s replacement hasn’t been named.