By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
The Lopez Lobos wasted no time getting off to a good start to the baseball season.
Lopez scored in every inning and backed a strong effort from pitchers Sabas Lopez and Alex Olguin as the Lobos won 17-0 over PSJA Southwest in a mercy-rule shortened season opener for both teams Monday at Lopez.
“We’ve been working hard with the hitting drills — we’re emphasizing a lot of hitting this year — and it showed up tonight,” Lopez coach Victor Martinez said.
The Lobos’ offense scored 17 runs as they pounded out 10 hits, drew 12 walks and struck out just three times. Lopez was helped by a PSJA Southwest defense that committed five errors on the evening.
Lopez and Olguin combined to allow zero runs and one hit, walking three and striking out eight.
The Lobos scored three runs during the first inning, two of them on a two-run double by Chuy Rodriguez to take a 3-0 early lead.
Lopez added another run in the second to take a 4-0 advantage, with a single by Robert Gomez scoring Marco Ibarra.
The Javelinas’ pitchers struggled with control all evening, and after starter Robert Cortez was chased after one batter in the third, its relievers didn’t fair any better.
During the third inning, Lopez exploded for 10 runs. Marky Ordonez had a two-run double, Rodriguez had a two-run single and Abraham Gonzalez and Jose Serino added back-to-back run-scoring singles to fuel the production and take a 14-0 lead.
With the game out of reach, PSJA Southwest coach Miguel Gonzalez hoped to use it as a teaching moment.
“I was telling them, ‘What if we have a district game like this?’” he said. “We have to be able to come out and play and not worry about the elements or worry about what’s going on the other side. So we can take away the positive is testing our attitude.”
The Lobos weren’t done. In the fourth inning, Gonzalez added another RBI single and Rodriguez hit a triple to add another pair of runs and take a 17-0 lead.
Rodriguez finished 3 for 4 with a double and a triple, one run and six RBIs for the Lobos.
Gonzalez and the Javelinas were ready to forget about the game and focus on the next part of the schedule. PSJA Southwest is competing in the Port Isabel tournament, which starts Thursday and continues through Saturday.
“It gives our kids more experience,” he said. “We have a lot of kids that haven’t been on varsity, and hopefully we can come together before our first district game.”
Martinezwas proud of the way his team came out battling the elements.
“I know it was a cold day and it was tough for pitchers,” he said. “We’ve looked pretty solid defensively, and we’ve been putting the ball in play. As long as you can do that they’ll fall, and they did tonight for hits.
“But we had a good game overall. They’re a great opponent, and we’re just glad we came out on top tonight.”
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.