MARK MOLINA | Staff Writer
HARLINGEN — The Harlingen Cardinals held arguably the best team in the Rio Grande Valley to a single run, but could not close the deal in the end.
As Harlingen threatened to steal the game in the bottom of the seventh with one out, Brownsville Veterans pitcher Noe Solis retired the final two batters and secured a 1-0 District 32-6A win for the Chargers on Friday night at Harlingen Field.
Solis finished the night with nine strikeouts and seven scoreless innings to pick up the win for the Chargers in what became a defensive showcase.
Despite the strong outing on the mound, however, the Chargers left nine batters on base.
Veterans left fielder Daniel Garza’s RBI single to bring in the game’s only run proved to be the lone highlight of the night offensively on both sides.
“Our pitching staff has been our strength this year and our bats are coming around; Noe Solis did a heck of a job,” Veterans head coach Joey Benavides said. “I think we were a little anxious at the plate and we’ve had situations where we’ve left batters on base, but we came through tonight and hopefully we won’t have that problem in the future.”
While Solis put on a show for the Chargers, Harlingen’s starting pitcher Chris Diaz had a solid night of his own, striking out one batter and throwing six scoreless innings, allowing nine hits and one earned run in the loss. The Cardinals defense committed three errors on the night.
Harlingen, however, registered just five hits on the night, but had their blunders in the base running department.
Three runners were called out heading for second base on the night, but the most notable mistake came in the bottom of the seventh when Cardinals second baseman Cody Garcia was picked off taking a lead off first base.
It was the inning’s first out, but it turned out to be the last missed opportunity of the night for Harlingen.
“We steal when we didn’t want to steal, we don’t get a good jump when we do want to steal, we missed a hit and run early in the game and then I don’t know where we’re going on that last one. We just have to be better mentally and we have 10 games left to try and figure this out,” Harlingen head coach Bryan Aughney said.
“Chris Diaz was outstanding on the mound for us. It was a well-played baseball game, but offensively we shot ourselves in the foot. However, it was against a great ballclub and we competed. We just need to get over that hump.”