MARK MOLINA | Staff Writer
SAN BENITO — Aside from one bad inning, the San Benito Greyhounds were defensively prepared for the Edinburg Bobcats.
With Edinburg pitcher John Gonzales on the mound, however, it wouldn’t matter.
The San Benito lineup just couldn’t figure Gonzales out, leading to a 14 strikeout no-hitter and a 5-1 Edinburg victory in Game 1 of their best-of-three bi-district series Friday night in San Benito.
“I saw that San Benito was looking for the off-speed so I just tried to work the fast ball more than anything,” Gonzales said. “I just tried to overpower them with my fast ball.”
In addition to 14 Ks, Gonzalez walked four batters on the night for Edinburg.
Aside from four runs in the third, San Benito allowed just one more the rest of the way. The defense kept the Bobcats in check for the most part, but that was irrelevant in head coach Ram Partida’s eyes.
“I told the guys that it doesn’t matter about our defense or how well we pitched, if we can’t hit the ball or score run, it’s going to be tough,” Partida said. “All credit to John Henry (Gonzales). He had his game on and shut us out — we just couldn’t hit the ball.”
The series resumes at 11 a.m. today in Edinburg.
San Benito’s starting pitcher Erick Arizpe began the day solid, going three-up, three down the first two innings. In the third, he allowed six hits in nine batters.
With two on and one out, Edinburg’s Ramsey Amador smacked a ball to deep center for an RBI double, bringing in Daniel Garcia.
A fielding miscue in the outfield by San Benito led to Edinburg’s Jaime Cancino crossing the plate to make it a 2-0 game.
Singles by Rudy Ibanez and Isaac Herrera also opened the door for two more runs in the inning and a 4-0 Bobcat lead.
“We knew San Benito would be prepared and Arizpe did a good job keeping us off balance,” said Edinburg head coach Robert Valdez. “We got to him that one inning and it started with our offensive pressure. We were able to get the first game, but it’s a long way from over.”
Arizpe allowed one more run in the fourth and was pulled after four complete innings in favor of Orly Eguia, who was replaced after 0.2 innings by Aaron Gonzalez.
Neither gave up a hit and allowed just one hit combined.
Arizpe finished the night allowing eight hits and five runs in the loss.
San Benito’s only run came on a wild pitch, allowing pinch runner Eguia to score.
WARRIORS FALL IN GAME 1 : The Santa Rosa Warriors fell into a 4-0 hole in game one against Santa Gertrudis Academy, but couldn’t rebound.
Santa Rosa fell 4-1 and into a 1-0 hole in their best-of-three bi-district series.
Game two will get going at 1 p.m. in Santa Rosa with game three 30 minutes after if needed.