Warren avenges first round district loss against Jay
By Mark Kusenberger
tsrnsports.com
Special to SAsports.com
On March 14th, the Warren Warriors were 3-0 in District 28-5A, and leading the Jay Mustangs 7-1 going into the bottom of the 7th.
The Mustangs rallied for 6 runs on just 3 hits to tie it, then won 8-7 in the bottom of the 8th. Warren went into a tailspin right out of playoff contention.
In the second round of district, Warren scored 6 in the first and made it hold up, winning 9-5 over the Jay Mustangs Friday afternoon at Inselmann Field.
Warren is now 10-12 overall and 5-7 in District 28-5A, two games out of 4th place with 4 to go. Jay falls to 16-7 overall and 8-5 in 28-5A, 1½ games out of first and tied with Marshall for 4th place. Jay has a series split with Marshall this season.
Jay took a 2-0 lead in the top of the 1st with Hector Flores scoring on a wild pitch and Roy Branch scoring on a single by Jose Cortez. But Warren responded by capitalizing on Mustang mistakes in the field.
Evan Jeffers led off reaching on an error by the third baseman. A.J. Saldana blooped a single between the second baseman and right fielder that neither defender seemed to call. Winning pitcher Blake Marino then doubled to the right field wall, scoring both to tie the game. Marino’s courtesy runner Ricardo Espinoza scored on a basehit to right by Parker Cundiff, giving Warren a 3-2.
With Cundiff on first, Tony Chapa hit a grounder to short; the shortstop neglected the force play, retiring only Chapa with Cundiff going to second safely. Catcher Cesar Castillo walked to put runner on second and third. Victor LaCourse hit an infield fly to the shortstop, who threw too late to first to retire Castillo’s courtesy runner Jorge Ortiz for the final out. Cory Weekes then singled to load the bases. Alex Guzman followed with a grounder to shortstop; instead of going for the force at second, the shortstop threw wildly to first, an error which allowed Cundiff and Ortiz to score, making it 5-2. Evan Jeffers, batting for the second time in the first inning, singled home Weekes to make it 6-2 Warren.
Warren added two in the second, taking advantage of further struggles in the field. With one out, Cundiff singled, then went to second on a sacrifice by Chapa; the bunt was muffed by the pitcher, allowing Chapa to reach safely. Castillo singled to load the bases. Next, La Course hit a grounder to the second baseman, who tagged Castillo’s courtesy runner Ortiz for the second out, then threw wildly to first, allowing Cundiff and Chapa to score. (Since the official scorer can’t assume a double play, La Course was credited with an RBI on Cundiff’s run; Chapa’s run was ruled to have scored on the second baseman’s throwing error.
Jay got two runs back in the third when Branch scored on a throwing error, then Roland Botello scored on a single by Rudy Hernandez, making it 8-4 Warren.
Amazingly, Jay starting pitcher Hector Flores (4-2) settled down, giving up just one more run, and even that one was strange. Chapa led off the fourth with a single off Flores’ shin; one out later, Chapa stole second. La Course reached on a fielding error by a different Jay shortstop; Chapa held at second on the play. Two pitches later, Chapa stole third, then scored on Weekes’ RBI single to left. Flores went all 6 innings for Jay, giving up 10 hits and 9 runs – 2 earned, walking 2, hitting 1, and striking out 4.
Jay added a final run in the fifth, when Jose Cortez scored on a single by Hernandez. Ricardo Espinoza came on to pitch the Warriors out of the first and second, one out jam, getting John Pinkston to fly out to left and striking out Aaron Gutierrez. Espinoza finished the game to earn a save, giving up one hit and striking out three in 2 2/3 innings.
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