By EDWARD SEVERN, Staff Writer
RAYMONDVILLE — The Brownsville Hanna Eagles defeated the Raymondville Bearkats 9-4 in a non-district meeting Friday.
“Today, offensively we stepped it up a little bit more,” Hanna coach Orlando Crenshaw said. “We had a great start to the game, they helped us out with a few errors, but our bats got going pretty early.”
Walks and wild pitches gave the Eagles three runs in the first. Junior Noah Ibarra’s double extended the lead to 4-0 in the second inning.
Senior shortstop Anthony Ambriz hit a two-run bomb during the top of the third inning to further extend the lead.
“It felt good,” he said. “First one of the season, I have not hit one in a while, it felt great. The pitch was perfect down the middle, and I threw a crank at it.”
Ambriz’s fielding was sensational. The shortstop pulled off multiple sliding stops and gunned down numerous Bearkats when he probably should not have.
“Defensively, we had had one lapse in the fifth inning, then we straightened out, our pitcher figured it out and we closed it out with a win,” Crenshaw said. “I will take it, but there is work to do.”
Crenshaw added that this non-district win could be a boost that his team needs when it continues its district season next week.
Raymondville picked things up during the fifth inning but was already trailing 9-0. Bearkats second baseman Ethan Tagle crushed a double, Fernando Torres drove in Tagle and Jayson Cantu drove in another run with a triple.
The Bearkats scored all of their runs in the inning.
“I think we played some good defense and hit the ball well, but the inconsistencies kind of hurt us today,” Bearkats coach Carlos Moreno said. “The pitching was not up to par, our batting got better at the end and we made some good defensive plays.”
Moreno said Hanna was a good opponent before his team begins district play next week against Port Isabel.