Nixon-Smiley bows in 8 innings
All eyes look to the umpire to confirm that Nick Pena (right) of Nixon-Smiley made the tag on the Karnes City base runner Thursday, who was called out on the attempted steal. Jared Van Auken of Nixon-Smiley is at left.
The Nixon-Smiley Mustangs let a close game get away from them in extra innings as they lost to the visiting Karnes City Badgers, 9-5, Thursday.
Nixon-Smiley struck first in the second inning when Mustang starting pitcher Raul Tovar was hit by a pitch to get on base safely, followed by a walk by Logan McMain. Joseph Rodriguez came in as a courtesy runner for Tovar before Carlos Rodgriguez drove in both runners on a two-RBI double.
The Badgers answered in the top of the third with their own two-RBI knock.
With the game tied at 2-2, the Mustangs followed with another run on the board. Darren Kaluza recorded a base hit early in the inning and ran the base path skillfully with a pair of stolen bases that concluded with the lone run of the inning.
The fifth stanza started off looking as though multiple men were going to score. The Badgers’ lead-off hitter bashed a double to start off the inning strong. The next batter drove in a run with a double of his own to deadlock the game at 3-3, before the third Badger of the inning added yet another base hit.
Fortunately for the Mustangs, the next two batters popped up before Tovar struck out the last batter.
Both teams failed to score in the sixth and seventh innings, forcing extra play to determine a winner.
The Mustangs’ pitching could not force any outs, with four pitchers collectively putting six batters on with walks while only giving up one hit. The first two outs finally came on two sacrifice bunts by the Badgers, but not until Karnes City had built a 9-3 cushion. The top half of the inning mercifully ended with a strikeout thrown by reliever Jared Van Auken.
Down by six runs, the Mustangs bats needed to fly to get a win. Nick Pena reach base on an error by the Badger pitcher, but the next two batters struck out, forcing the Mustangs to try to attempt a two-out rally. McMain drove in two runs to cut into the deficit, but it wasn’t enough as the Badgers registered the last out of the game.
Tom Palacio and McMain led the Mustang hitters with two hits each. Carlos Rodriguez added a hit and two RBIs.
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