MARK MOLINA | Staff Writer
HARLINGEN — The San Benito Greyhounds may have a playoff spot sewn up, but that didn’t stop them from playing with some urgency against the Harlingen South Hawks.
Led by seven scoreless innings on the mound from starting pitcher JR Gaitan, the Greyhounds easily dispatched the Hawks 6-0 Friday night at Harlingen field.
Gaitan — usually the San Benito closer — looked strong all night, striking out eight and holding the Hawks to just two hits.
“Both pitcher did a great job,” San Benito head coach Ram Partida said. “South’s pitching kept us off balance at first, but seeing JR finish the whole game was pretty good. I was hoping he gave us three or four, but he was strong all night and finished the game for us.”
Gaitan’s performance overshadowed the outing by Hawks’ freshman pitcher Robert Mejia, tossed 5.0 innings and allowed four hits and two earned runs.
With South’s (9-13, 3-10) playoff hopes dashed for some time, Mejia’s arm was given a rest despite being down only two with a pair of innings to go.
“JR did a good job and I thought (Mejia) did a really good job,” South head coach Tony Leal said. “We were down 2-0, but we pulled him. We have to watch his pitch count and that’s what’s going to happen; we’re going to protect these young kids.”
San Benito (8-5, 12-7) has a postseason spot clinched, but was just one game behind Brownsville Hanna for the third seed entering Friday’s contest. Hanna played Brownsville Rivera on Friday.
“(The race) is exciting,” Partida said. “I told the kids that yes, we’re in the playoffs, but we’re not done yet. A lot of things need to happen for us seeding purposes, but I gave them a scenario and we’re going to continue playing hard.”
Still, the Greyhounds have to like the momentum they had during the final inning.
Up 3-0 in the top of the seventh, San Benito had its most effective inning of the night, driving in three runs.
Two came in after a two RBI triple by Gaitan to deep center field, scoring Tony Gonzalez and Max Galvan.
Moments later Daniel Jimenez came home from third after a wild pitch from Hawks relief pitcher Alec Garza, making it a 6-0 game.