By KEVIN NARRO | Staff Writer
HARLINGEN — The baseball world will have to wait a few more days for District 32-6A to decide a champion.
Brownsville Rivera kept its title hopes alive with a seventh-inning rally. Omar Rodriguez tied the game on an RBI double and Raul Gonzalez provided the go-ahead single en route to a 7-5 win over Harlingen High on Tuesday night.
“ When we came into the fifth inning, we were down to our last three at-bats and I just told the kids to focus and do what I knew they could do,” Rivera coach Travis Parker said.
The Raiders next play host to Harlingen High on Friday to decide the district winner.
“ We have been preparing for this moment and this opportunity since we got together at the start of the year, Parker said. “Now that it is here, it’s reality, we are not going to do anything different. We are going to suit up, and go out there and play seven hard innings.”
The Raiders trailed 5-1 entering the fifth inning, but Ricky Ibarra got Rivera back in the game with a two-run homer that helped cut the lead to 5-4.
The blast was the momentum Rivera needed heading into the final two innings.
“ I think that was what got us going, especially after that reversed call at third,” Parker said. “For us to come back and hit a homer and get us back in it was huge.”
Ibarra finished the night 2-for-3 with three RBIs and one run scored. Leadoff hitter Michael Gomez went 5-for-5 at the plate with three runs, three singles and a double.
After taking a one-run lead in the seventh, Rivera added an insurance run of the bat of Ibarra.