By Brian Argabright
The 830 Times
In two innings, Del Rio’s playoff chances went up in a cloud of baseball dirt.
Up 3-0, the Rams were outscored 7-1 in the fifth and sixth inning Wednesday night as part of an 8-4 loss to the Laredo Alexander Bulldogs. That loss, coupled with Laredo Nixon’s 14-0 win over Laredo LBJ, means the Rams have been eliminated from the playoff race. Del Rio trails Nixon by two games with two games left, but Nixon swept the season series to hold the tiebreaker over the Rams for the fourth and final playoff spot.
The loss was Del Rio’s third in a row after starting the second half of district play with a win over Laredo LBJ. They lost by one run to Laredo United and Laredo Nixon before Wednesday’s game, which was rescheduled from Tuesday due to weather.
Del Rio grabbed a 3-0 lead in the first inning against the Bulldogs.
Alex Rodriguez led off with a single and Ricky Limon walked to open the Rams’ at-bat. After a double steal moved the runners into scoring position, Will Cooper smashed a double to left field to drive in two and stake Del Rio to a 2-0 lead.
Two batters later, Tommy Gambrel smacked a double of his own to left to plate Cooper and build the Rams’ lead to 3-0.
But Del Rio’s bats would go silent after, managing just two hits over the next six innings. The Rams scored their fourth run in the bottom of the sixth inning as Mario Soto, who walked in his at-bat, scored on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Willson Smith.
By then, though, Alexander had taken control of the contest.
The Bulldogs got their first run in the top of the fourth as Jerry Castillo hit a towering solo home run over the center field wall to cut the Rams lead to 3-1.
Alexander then scored three runs in the fifth thanks to RBI singles by Ciro Benavides, J.C. Zepeda and Castillo.
The Bulldogs capped their scoring in the sixth inning as Benavides had a two-run double and Josh Torres blasted a two-run home run over the left field wall. Alexander was aided by a pair of Rams errors in the inning that came after the Bulldogs had two outs.
Del Rio starting pitcher Gambrel held Alexander in check until the fifth inning, allowing just four hits, including the Castillo home run, before running into trouble. He was replaced by Rodriguez, who gave up four runs in the sixth aided by the two errors.
Alexander was anchored by Andrew De Leon who settled down after the first inning. He retired 10 of the next 11 batters he faced after giving up the Gambrel double including sitting down eight Rams in a row. After walking Soto in the sixth, Benavides replaced him on the mound and closed out the game.
Del Rio will travel to Laredo Friday to face United South at 7 p.m. The Rams’ final game of the season will be Tuesday, as they will host the Eagle Pass Eagles at 7 p.m. at The Bank & Trust Ram Field. The Del Rio seniors will also be honored following the game.
—
Contact the author at drnhsports@gmail.com
