MARK MOLINA | Staff Writer
RIO HONDO — Both the Brownsville Rivera Raiders and the Rio Hondo Bobcats were looking to bounce back after tough district losses.
Unfortunately for the Bobcats, their offense never got in rhythm and their defensive miscues opened the door for the Raiders to walk away with a 6-0 non-district victory on Saturday afternoon in Rio Hondo.
The Raiders defense held the Bobcats to six hits on the day, thanks in large part to pitcher Adrian Lozano, who got the win allowing just three hits in five innings with six strikeouts.
The Raiders recorded three errors on defense, but were able to still hold on to the shutout.
“We’re coming off of last night’s tough loss (to Harlingen), but we always try and preach good defense, pitching and timely hitting. We’re a long way from doing all three,” Rivera head coach Travis Parker said.
“We’re trying to improve day to day, but there is a lot to work on. We need to have better at-bats when guys are in scoring position as well. We’re young, but we’re working.”
As for the Bobcats, their hitting was not as much of a problem compared to the stranded runners.
Even with only six hits, they left nine runners on base.
“We have to eliminate the base-running mistakes, but we need to learn from those mistakes because we have two big district games coming up this Tuesday and Friday in Port Isabel and in Progresso,” Rio Hondo head coach Sergio Gonzalez said.
“We need to focus on our base running in practice and have quality practices overall. We need to be patient at the plate as well and let the ball come to us.”
Aside from the loss Saturday, Gonzalez likes where his team is after falling to Class 6A Rivera and the No. 1 3A team in the state Hidalgo.
”We have a real good young team,” Gonzalez said. “We just need to get some of that fire going like we had when we played Hidalgo. We saw some good things and hung in there with them for a while, but these games are a really good measuring stick for our team.”
Rio Hondo’s defense looked solid at times as the Raiders left eight runners on bases themselves.
The Bobcats allowed just two runs until the fifth inning when the Raiders brought in three runs to ice the game.
In the fifth, with one out and two on, Rivera’s Jose Montoya scored on a passed ball.
Another Rivera runner scored as Rio Hondo catcher Andres Vasquez recovered the passed ball and overthrew pitcher Levi Oviedo in an attempt to make the play moments later.
Rio Hondo pitching gave up three earned runs with sophomores Oviedo and starting pitcher Jesse Atkinson on the mound.
The two recorded four strikeouts on the day and allowed five hits.
Atkinson hit two batters and walked one. Oviedo walked another six.