By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
This might have been a good indicator of how tight the District 32-6A baseball race will be.
Hanna jumped out to an early 4-0 lead, but the Golden Eagles had to hold off San Benitoduring the last inning to preserve a 4-3 victory over the Greyhounds in the district opener for both teams Saturday at Hanna.
Alec Buitron seemed to pick up where he left off last year, going six strong innings for the win. He allowed three runs, scattered 11 hits, walked none and struck out four for Hanna (1-0 in District 32-6A).
“(Alec) knew he was going to be our (workhorse) and what’s at stake,” Hanna coach Eddie Garcia said. “He knows he’s going to have to carry us, he’s our ace. He did a hell of a job,he kept them off-balanced with a curve ball and worked ahead in the count.”
The Eagles jumped out to an early 4-0 lead after they scored once during the second inning and put three more across the plate in the third.
Hanna got on the board when Jonathan Castro hit a two-out single to break a scoreless tie in the second.
The Eagles followed that with three more runs an inning later. Cesar Saldaña hit a RBI single and two batters later, Christian Gonzalez followed with a two-run double to give Hanna a 4-0 advantage.
San Benito (0-1) wasn’t going to quit. During the fourth inning, Chris Padilla got them on the board with a double. Two innings later, Isaac Sanchez hit a sacrifice fly to score another to cut the deficit in half.
With one last chance in the final inning, pinch hitter Jonathan Robles and Victor Gaitan led off with back-to-back singles. That was the end of Buitron’s day, and he was relieved by freshman Noe Guerrero.
J.R. Gaitan sacrificed to move the runners up and Ruben Reyes grounded out to second, but a run scored in the process to make it 4-3.
With two outs and a runner on third, Guerrero got the Greyhounds’ cleanup hitter, Padilla, to pop out in foul territory. Eagles first baseman Efrain Martinez made the catch against the fence next to the visitors’ dugout to seal the victory for Hanna.
“I told my kids we have to learn how to be patient. We’re trying to hit nine-run home runs, and there’s no such thing in baseball,” San Benitocoach Ramiro Partida said. “All we needed was a simple base hit. We had a lot of opportunities we just couldn’t punch in.”
Despite the loss, Partida was pleased with the way his team came back.
“We were down 4-1 and found a way to come back and bring it to 4-3. We had our tying run on third base with our cleanup hitter up,” he said. “We need to learn how to be patient. Unfortunately we’re behind the eight-ball already, but we have a lot more games to go.”
Garcia breathed a sigh of relief after the game. He feels like every district game this season will be close.
“(San Benito) is a good team, they’re solid,” he said. “We’re all even (in district),whoever makes a mistake is going to lose. It’s going to come down to this. That’s why I respect this game so much. It’s not over until it’s over.
“It was a team effort, and I’m happy for my young squad. It’s always good to start off district with a win.”
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.