LYFORD — The BrownsvilleSt. Joseph Bloodhounds evened the score with Lyford Bulldogs Tuesday evening.
After taking a 9-2 loss at home to the Bulldogs earlier this month, the Bloodhounds returned the favor in a 5-1 victory over the Bulldogs at Lyford.
With the win, the Bloodhounds snapped their three-game losing skid and got themselves back in the win column.
“We’re happy with the win,” said St. Joseph coach Steven Najera. “We have had a couple of losses in a row and we played them (Lyford) last week and they put it to us pretty good at our field, so we had a really good week of practice last week and we came out very determined. We knew we were going to have them as our next opponent so it kind of motivated the guys and woke them up a bit.
“Our senior Arturo Trevino did a really, really good job and went seven strong. He couldn’t finish the game because of the pitch count, but Senad (Desvisevic) came in and finished up the job.”
St. Joseph got on the scoreboard in the top of the second to take an early 1-0 lead after Rodrigo Sanchez hit an infield RBI to drive in David Rodriguez from third base.
The Bloodhounds threatened to add to the lead, however the Bulldogs defense was able to hold them at bay for five more innings until the top of the seventh when St. Joseph was able to break through for four more runs.
“Our bats had been kind of dead and we hit well today, and we were aggressive on the bases,” said Najera. “We had a good week of focus practice and knew we were going to have a chance to avenge the loss to them.”
In the top of the seventh with the bases loaded, Carlos Sarminto crushed a two-run double to left field to put the Bloodhounds up 4-1.
For the Bulldogs, it was a lackluster performance that dropped the team to 6-5 overall this season. Lyford’s only score on the evening came off a wild pitch that brought in Matt Sanchez in the bottom of the seventh.
On a positive note, the Dogs were able put runners on base, just not over home plate.
“First off, hats off to their pitcher because he did a heck of a job and I think they played a great game defensively,” said Lyford head coach Chris Cervantes. “But we have to get better when we have runners in scoring positions because we left guys stranded in scoring positions with no outs and we had a hard time bringing them in.”
