By Clara Sandoval
The 830 Times
The Rams baseball team split their district games during spring break against Laredo LBJ. Del Rio fell Tuesday 8-6 but rebounded on Thursday to pick up a 4-2 victory in District 30-6A action.
First game
Del Rio had a hard time in the opening game to get things going at the plate despite out hitting Laredo LBJ 8-4. The Rams were led by the bat of Joe Guerrero who went 3-for-4 at the plate while Ethan Matherne finished 2-for-4.
“Game one we started out slow. We couldn’t really get anything going offensively,” Del Rio head coach Martin Cardenas said. “Although I have to give credit to the team, they rallied back to take the lead in the 6th inning. We just couldn’t close the game out defensively.”
Del Rio built a 6-5 lead heading into the seventh inning but Laredo LBJ capitalized in their last at bats to score three runs and take a 8-6 lead. The Rams were not able to match the Wolves offense and fell in the district opener.
The Rams (8-6-1, District 30-6A 1-1) got on the scoreboard in the second inning after both teams were scoreless in the first inning. Harrison Taylor (1-for-4) scored the first run of the game in the second inning as Del Rio took a 1-0 lead.
Laredo LBJ responded with four runs in the third inning as the Wolves led 4-1. Del Rio came right back in the fourth inning with runs from Tyler George and Ricky Martinez to make it a 4-3 ball game.
The Rams took the lead in the fifth inning despite Laredo LBJ scoring a run. Del Rio had Aiden Natividad, Taylor, and Juan Garza to take a 6-5 edge but could not hold on to it and fell.
Second Game
Cardenas and the Rams went back to work and utilized their only day of preparation to work out the wrinkles from the district opener.
The Rams rebounded and beat Laredo LBJ 4-2 to get back to their winning ways in the second game of district play.
“The coaching staff and I made some adjustments,” Cardenas said. “The game started out pretty tight tied 2-2 but Thomas Gambrel really buckled down to keep LBJ at 2. Then the offense came alive, scoring two runs late to solidify the win.”
Del Rio had to come from behind after Laredo LBJ took a 2-1 lead after the opening inning. That proved to be all the runs that Laredo LBJ could muster the rest of the way as the Rams clamped down on defense.
The Rams had runs from Tyler George, Ricky Martinez, Mario Soto and Ethan Matherne that led to the Del Rio victory.
Del Rio has little time to relish in their victory as they look forward to start the series with Laredo United South on Tuesday and Friday. On Tuesday the Rams travel to Laredo and then welcome the Panthers on Friday.
“The coaching staff and I have total confidence in our guys going into the second series against United South,” Cardenas said. “We have total confidence that we will continue to get better and build off of this win. The team did a great job of buying into some of the adjustments that us as a coaching staff implemented. We trust in their resilience and toughness to battle the rest of the season.”
