Errors fatal for Apaches vs. Yoakum

YOAKUM – It took nine innings to determine a winner in Tuesday’s matchup between the Gonzales Apaches and the Yoakum Bulldogs, but errors were the deciding factor as the Bulldogs claimed a 3-2 win on what turned out to be a walk-off error.

The ninth-inning miscue overshadowed a pitching gem by the Apaches’ Tyler Janota, who went seven innings and allowed only one hit. Janota struck out 13 batters and surrendered only one base on balls.

However, there was not a lot of run support, as the Apaches combined for just three hits against 12 strikeouts and three walks.

The lone scores for Gonzales came in the fifth inning when the Apaches were facing a 2-0 deficit. Zach Clack-Perez led off with a base on balls, then Janota laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance Clack-Perez to second base. But Janota managed to reach first base safely, resulting in a sac hit. Dylan Gomez then struck out looking for the first out.

With runners on first and second, Dalton Kuntschik recorded the Apaches’ first hit of the night with a single between first and second base to load up the bags. Brant Phillipus followed with an RBI to score Clack-Perez and keep the bases full. During Aaron Gayton’s at-bat, a passed ball advanced all the runners, including Janota from third base to plate Gonzales’ second run. Gayton ended up grounding out to the pitcher, and Devin Benes ended the inning with a strikeout for a 2-2 stalemate.

After an uneventful seventh inning, the game went to extras and the Apaches simply could not get on base.

Yoakum looked to be closing in on the win in the eighth inning with the bases loaded and only one out on the board. But relief pitcher Gayton struck out the next batter and forced a pop up fly to center field to rescue Gonzales and keep alive hopes of an Apache win.

In the deciding ninth inning, the Bulldogs had two outs on the board before getting a batter on base when hit by a pitch. Then on a 2-2 count, the final batter drove the ball to right field, but the ball was mishandled by Phillipus. The error allowed the winning run to score from first base, ending the game with a walk-off error.

The Apaches traveled to Cuero Thursday, but game information was not available at press time.