By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
Brownsville Veterans Memorial lost its lead late, but rallied back against Donna High in extra innings.
The Chargers’ Mike Mendoza hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning to break a tie game and send the hosts to a 7-6 victory over the Redskins in a District 32-5A finale Tuesday at Brownsville Veterans.
With one out and the bases loaded after a single and two consecutive hits batsmen, Mendoza came through with a hit deep enough to center field to score Ramiro Rodriguez for the game winner.
“I just wanted to come through,” he said. “Hold the rope, hold your end and come through. We don’t fold easily. We’re a pretty solid team and we know what we want and we know we’ll fight for it.”
Brownsville Veterans coach Albert Rodriguez said Mendoza has been in that spot before.
“It’s not the first time he’s done that, so I had confidence in Mike coming up,” Rodriguez said. “He’s done it before and (I knew) he can do it again. I’m proud of him.”
Brownsville Veterans (11-3 in District 32-5A) had already secured second place in the district and a postseason berth. Despite a loss, Donna High (7-7) still earns a playoff spot, tied with Mercedes (7-7), but the Redskins will get the fourth seed because Mercedes won both games of the district series this year.
It was a back-and-forth game throughout between the playoff bound teams.
Donna High took an early 1-0 in the first inning on a passed ball.
Brownsville Veterans would come back. The Chargers scored a pair of runs in the third inning to take a 2-1 lead.
Brownsville Veterans scored on a fielder’s choice hit by Noah Perez and then on a sacrifice fly by Sammy Chapa.
In the fourth inning, the Chargers scored again on a fielder’s choice, this one by Josh Alaniz to give them a 3-1 edge.
One inning later, Brownsville Veterans adds another run, once again on a fielder’s choice as Gilbert Rodriguez gave the Chargers a 4-1 advantage.
Donna High exploded for five runs in the sixth inning. Tony Hernandez had a two-run single and Jeremy Ramirez followed that with a two-run double. The Redskins added another run and retook the lead 6-4.
“We’re a late inning kind of team, this wasn’t usual for us,” Donna High coach Joey Ramirez said. “We had opportunities throughout the game. We’re going to take it for what it is, give credit where it’s due, I tip my hat to Brownsville Veterans.
“Baseball is a funny game like that, sometimes it goes like that.”
Brownsville Veterans wasn’t finished though. Down to its last out in the bottom of the seventh, Jorge Rodriguez hit a fly ball to right field that looked like it would be caught. But it was dropped and two runs came across the plate to tie the game at 6.
The Chargers used that momentum shift to stay poised and two innings later won it in dramatic fashion in the district finale.
Chapa, who relieved starter Noah Perez, gave up the lead for Brownsville Veterans in sixth, but battled his way back with three straight shutout innings to get the win. Chapa allowed three runs on four hits, waked three and struck out five for the Chargers.
Ramirez took the loss for the Redskins, he pitched 5 2/3 innings, allowed four runs on seven hits, walked three, struck out two and had two hits batsmen.
Despite the loss, Donna High earns a postseason berth for the first time in 14 years according to Ramirez.
“We’re in uncharted territory,” he said. “We kicked that door down and taking it for what it is. These guys worked their butts off and they deserve it. I’m proud of them. We played this as a playoff game and we haven’t been in an extra-inning game all season long.
“We hopes this serves us well down the road. We took the loss, but we gained experience.”
Brownsville Veterans earned the victory with plenty to celebrate. The Chargers’ seniors played their final district game and will return to the postseason. And the Brownsville Veterans coach welcomed his second child and first son into the world earlier on Tuesday.
“We took care of business,” Rodriguez said. “(After a loss on Donna North on Friday) I told the guys we need to bounce back and get a W and get momentum so we could have that positive vibe. These kids are all about vibes. They vibe off each other.
“It was a big game, especially with Rio Grande City next week (in the postseason). We needed to be sharp and get ready (for the playoffs).”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.