By ANDREW CRUM | THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD
Brownsville Veterans Memorial and Lopez are capable of swinging the bats and both put the runs on the board Friday night.
But the Chargers got the upper hand, putting five runs across the plate in the sixth inning and that was the difference in a 9-5 victory over the Lobos in a District 32-5A game at Brownsville Veterans.
“I told the guys, we have to keep fighting and get quality at-bats,” Brownsville Veterans coach Albert Rodriguez said. “That (Lopez) pitcher was throwing some great pitches, had great locations and kept us off balanced. Luckily we found a way to get some insurance runs in the sixth.”
Brownsville Veterans had four doubles on the night, included a two-run double by Justin Anaya that highlighted the Chargers five-run sixth inning and helped them pull away and remain a perfect 11-0 in District 32-5A. Lopez’s defense let them down in the sixth, a couple errors led to a few of those runs and the Lobos slip to 9-2 in district play.
“Any runs are huge, but in that situation … our underclassmen came in clutch,” Anaya said. “They started the momentum and I came in and got another big hit for us. Our goal is to get (a) district (title) and after that we want to see how far we can go.
“We’re going to ride this momentum through district and to the playoffs.”
Lopez got on the board first during its first at-bat in the first inning. The Lobos scored a run on a passed ball to take a 1-0 lead.
Brownsville Veterans wasted no time in the bottom half of the inning. Aaron Recio drove in a run with a double to left field to tie it up a t1 and in the process another run scored on a throwing error during a run down to make it 2-1.
The Chargers added to their lead in the second inning. Jesus Kaar hit a double down the third base line to bring home a run. Kaar then scored on Rafael Capistran’s single to center to make it 4-1.
“I’m proud of these guys. They’re a special team, they’re united and they’re team first … it’s like a full body machine and everyone is doing their part,” Rodriguez said of his team’s offensive output. “We didn’t have that experience at the beginning of the season and now we do … they’re growing up and stepping in and filling their roles.”
Lopez got one back in the third inning on an infield error allows a run to score and it cut the deficit in half, 4-2.
The Lobos got another run in the fifth inning after a single by Jesus Villafranca and Alex Olguin, who drew a one-out walk, scored on an errant throw to get within 4-3.
Brownsville Veterans took advantage of Lopez’s miscues and added three hits, including two doubles to score five runs and take a 9-3 advantage.
“We have to play perfect ball when it comes to these type of teams, they’re so talented,” Lopez coach Victor Martinez said. “We played good enough to win, but that sixth inning we had a couple infield errors and those were costly … errors equal runs and they started adding up. Hat’s off to my pitcher, he’s a freshman … we put him in the spotlight and he shined, but we didn’t help behind him.”
The Lobos started the seventh with a pair of singles by Jose Rodriguez and Olguin and turned those into runs on a sacrifice fly by Jesus De Leon and another on a wild pitch, but it wasn’t enough to close the gap as the Chargers sealed the victory with a strikeout.
Martinez is sure his team will bounce back and use the loss to help them, as they get closer to a postseason berth.
“Keep your head up, we have a lot of season ahead of us,” he said he told his team after the game. “We’ll make it a learning experience and go back and learn from it and keep working hard. We’re aware of the scenarios for playoffs, but we have to take it one game at a time and prepare for each game … we have to make the most out of these kind of games to prepare us for the postseason.”
Rodriguez said he felt a little relief after coming away with the win, but knows his team wants to keep its momentum going heading in the playoffs.
“(Victor’s) doing a great job, they fight from the first inning to the last inning and they kept us on edge the whole game,” he said. “We want to stay hungry, but stay humble as well … our model for practices is the way you practice is the way you play.
“The returners are hungry and want to give it their best … so we’ll see what happens (in the postseason).”
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.