By Brian Argabright
If the Rams baseball team hopes to reach the postseason, they’ll need more games like they had Saturday.
In a rare afternoon matinee, the Rams shutout Laredo LBJ, 4-0, to kickoff the second half of play in District 30-6A.
As the second half of district begins, the Rams (3-4) sit in a thee-way tie for the final playoff spot along with Laredo Nixon and Laredo United. Del Rio lost to both those teams in the first half of district play.
Laredo United South sits atop the district standings at 7-1. Eagle Pass is second at 5-2, and Laredo Alexander is third at 4-2.
Jose Borrego continued his stellar season. He tossed a complete game, allowing just three hits, walking two and striking out six. He also went 2-for-2 at the plate, driving in a pair of runs.
LBJ’s best chance to score came in the fourth inning when the Wolves had runners at second and third with just one out after back-to-back hits by Juan Ramirez and Edgar Cuellar. But Borrego shut down the Wolves from there as he got the next batter to fly-out to left field and struck out the final batter of the inning looking to squash the scoring threat.
The Rams scored their first run of the game in the bottom of the first as Alex Rodriguez smacked a leadoff double and eventually scored on a Borrego sacrifice fly to make it 1-0.
Del Rio capped its scoring with three runs in the third inning.
A fielder’s choice put Ricky Limon on base, but he came in to score almost immediately as Rodriguez ripped a triple to right field to put Del Rio up 2-0. After a Matt Mendez walk, Borrego singled and scored Rodriguez for a 3-0 Del Rio lead.
Mendez scored when the throw to get him advancing to third on Borrego’s hit wound up hitting him and bouncing out of play.
Del Rio had eight hits as a team. Rodriguez was 2-for-3 with two runs scored, Borrego was 2-for-2 with 2 RBIs, Johnny Flores was 1-for-3, Will Cooper was 1-for-3, Josh Adams was 1-for-2, and Carlos Arredondo was 1-for-2.
Del Rio is scheduled to travel to Laredo Tuesday to take on United at Krueger Field at 7 p.m. The Rams’ next home game is scheduled for Friday, April 16, when they host Laredo Nixon at 7 p.m. Tickets for the game go on sale online Monday and can be purchased at https://www.vancoevents.com/us/events/landing?eid=7260&embed=1
