By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
In a crucial District 32-6A game against San Benito, Hanna just couldn’t find its offense.
The Golden Eagles put a run across the plate in the first inning, but were shut out the rest of the way as the Greyhounds defeated Hanna 3-1 in District 32-6A baseball action Tuesday at Hanna.
“Right away we jumped on (San Benito pitcher Erick Arizpe), it didn’t seem like he had his best stuff,” Hanna coach Eddie Garcia said. “But he got stronger as he went and we helped out (a few times). We were lacking some fire there (on offense).”
The Greyhounds scored a pair of runs in the fourth inning to break a 1-all tie. Joseph Partida started the inning with a double and later scored on an Alfonso Mireles RBI-single. Mireles later moved to third on a single by Aaron Gonzales and scored on a balk to give San Benito a 3-1 advantage.
“We got somebody else on base first and we like to move runners over,” San Benito coach Ramiro Partida said. “We were able to put someone in scoring position and we were able to bring them in. We caused havoc and they threw the ball away at first base which allowed that extra run.”
Hanna opened the first inning with a run on a single by Cesar Saldaña to take a 1-0 lead. Michael Gomez reached on an error and eventually scored the lone run for the Eagles. Hanna had just three hits and a pair of walks the rest of the way, but didn’t produce another run.
“We just didn’t hit, we didn’t come through,” Garcia said. “We hit the ball hard, but we couldn’t get anything going, couldn’t get the timely hit.”
San Benito tied the game in the second inning. Mando Medrano walked and later scored from third as the Eagles were trying to get a runner stealing second base and the ball rolled away from the middle infielders.
Arizpe went the distance in the win, allowing just one run while scattering five hits, walked two and struck out three. The Greyhounds coach said his hurler talked to his teammate in between innings about the first-inning error and told him not to worry about it, he had it under control.
Arizpe did indeed. He got out of a couple jams in the fourth and the sixth innings and limited the Eagles to just three hits after the first inning.
Hanna’s Alec Buitron took the loss after pitching four innings — including one batter in the fifth — allowed three runs on six hits, walked three and struck out two.
Hanna (5-3) is now tied with San Benito (5-3) in the district standings for third place and could be an important factor in the last half of the district season.
“When we weren’t doing well, I told the guys to dive in, stopping seeing if the water is going to be cold or not, just dive in,” Partida said of his team’s improved play. “When you start jumping in, it’s a lot more fun and that’s what we’ve been doing.
“That’s a great ball club over there, Coach Garcia does a great job. They’re a good team, we’re lucky we came out with a win (Tuesday).”
Hanna has lost three straight district games and need to find a way back to its winning ways.
“We just have to take a step back, work hard, practice hard and get back into a groove,” Garcia said. “It’s a tough one, but they’re a good ball club. We knew it was going to be tough, we knew we needed to hit the ball and we didn’t, that’s the bottom line.”
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.