By STEFAN MODRICH | Staff Writer
Harlingen High coach Armando Rangel has a simple axiom: Put the ball on the ground, and good things will happen.
“You’ve got to put the ball in play,” Rangel said. “Everybody gets the same amount of outs, so you have to make plays.”
This once again held true for the Cardinals (15–9, 8-2 32-6A), as they defeated Los Fresnos 8-5 on Tuesday night to take a two-game lead over the Falcons (17-9, 6-4 32-6A) in District 32-6A.
Rangel hasn’t been shy about the sharing the formula of success for this season’s squad: a combination of small ball, solid pitching and defense.
“That’s the name of our game,” Rangel said. “We’re going to sacrifice, we’re going to push (runners) over. We’re going to minimize our mistakes baserunning. We did that today, and we got a little bit better with our run-scoring. Every runner we get on base, we’re gonna try to score them. They understand that if there’s a runner on first with no outs, we’re going to bunt.”
Harlingen High was aggressive on the basepaths, scoring on more than one occasion on rundowns between first and second that served as bait for the Falcons’ infielders to allow the runner on third to come home.
The Falcons jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first, after an RBI double from enter fielder Germain Castillo scored right fielder Johnny Cadengo and a sacrifice fly from first baseman Victor Loa plated Castillo.
The Cardinals came roaring back with four runs during the second, sparked by catcher Aaron Pacheco’s sacrifice bunt to move George Stillman from first to second and an infield single from Abel Flores.
Los Fresnos committed five errors, four of which came during the decisive third inning. The Cardinals led 4-2 after the second inning, highlighted by a sacrifice fly from left fielder Abraham Ibarra that scored second baseman Jacob Marroquin. Marroquin was one of several Cardinals to reach base on dribblers past the mound.
Harlingen High loaded the bases and tacked on three more runs in the third, knocking out Falcons starting pitcher Alex Salas with runners on first and third with one out. Salas was relieved by Isaac Franco, who pitched the rest of the game for Los Fresnos.
The Cardinals loaded the bases again during the fourth, adding on another run to stretch the lead to 8-2, Harlingen High’s largest of the game.
The Falcons gradually chipped away at the deficit. Designated hitter Jorge Gonzalez’s double off the top of the wall in the fourth scored Loa to lessen the Cardinals’ lead to five runs.
Los Fresnos started the sixth with consecutive triples from Castillo and Loa, and a single from Gonzalez brought the score to its final margin.
Cardinals pitcher John Ortega responded by striking out pinch hitter Ian Danielson and Lee Trevino, and he retired Carlos Perez on a fielder’s choice to end the late rally.
“It helps a lot knowing that I’m playing (the defending) district (champions)” Ortega said. “It puts a lot of confidence in my head knowing we can come out and play with those guys.”
Ortega kept the Falcons at bay for most of his 6 1/3 innings. Marroquin came on with one out in the seventh to collect the save.