Brownsville Veterans Memorial shortstop Carlos Garza was thinking, “Don’t strike out,” when he stepped up to the plate in his final at-bat against Brownsville Lopez on Tuesday.
His Chargers were trailing 3-1 in the bottom of the seventh with two down and two runners on base.
Garza didn’t strike out. He roped a single into shallow right field, and with the help of a bobble before the throw, both runners scored and Garza reached second.
After a pitching change, Garza advanced to third on a balk. Then he was swarmed by teammates at home plate after scoring on a wild pitch, giving Brownsville Veterans a 4-3 walkoff victory over the Lopez Lobos.
“(My mentality was) that I had to hit, I had to come up with a play. I was happy, really excited,” Garza said through a translator, Chargers catcher Heriberto Maldonado.
Lopez opened a 2-0 lead with a two-run top of the first. The top of the order showed discipline at the plate, working the count full often and drawing two walks. Catcher Raul Gonzalez, center fielder Jesus Serrata and pitcher Jesus Villafranca knocked three consecutive hits to start the game and put the Lobos on top. Villafranca and the Lopez defense kept the Chargers off the board in the bottom half of the first, ending the inning with a 1-6-3 double play.
Brownsville Veterans trimmed its deficit to 2-1 in the bottom of the second as starting pitcher Rafael Capistran, second baseman Marlon Rodriguez and third baseman Javier Hinojosa strung together three hits to start the frame. Rodriguez’s single drove in Capistran after the pitcher helped himself with a double.
Lopez’s defense kept the Chargers off the scoreboard for the next 4 2/3 innings. Villafranca was solid on the mound, striking out seven Chargers and allowing just one hit during that stretch. Left fielder Enrique Gonzalez and shortstop Mando San Miguel made good defensive plays for the Lobos, and Gonzalez gunned down a runner at second to assist the scoreless drought.
The Lobos added to their lead in the fourth. First baseman Andrew Hernandez reached on a single to center then came around to score after a bad throw on a would-be, inning-ending double play.
Capistran held Lopez scoreless during his final inning of work. The UTRGV signee pitched five innings, allowing four hits and striking out eight. Rene Sanchez took the mound in relief and worked two scoreless, hitless innings with two punchouts.
“Before the (final) inning started, I said, ‘Hey, what are the hardest outs to get in baseball? The last three outs,’” Chargers coach Adam Vera said. “Earlier in the season we’ve blown the same kind of lead. I told them, ‘We’ve been through this. It’s hard to get those three outs. Make them work for it. Make them earn it.’”
After two fly ball outs in the top of the seventh, Hinojosa flashed the leather to give the Chargers a chance to walk it off. He dove to his right to field a liner down the third-base line and recovered to make a good throw to first to end the inning. Garza said that play fired him up and motivated him, aiding in his big hit to get the win.
“We were fortunate there at the end,” Vera said. “(Villafranca) did a hell of a job. It’s huge. We need to keep going, keep winning. We’re playing series, so it’s always big to get the first one. Last (series) against Porter we didn’t, and it just makes the second game that much more important. So, I know Lopez is going to come out fired up because they think they should’ve had it.”
Villafranca was pulled after Garza’s hit with the game tied at 3. Gonzalez took over in relief.
The Chargers and Lobos will turn right around to finish the District 32-5A series Thursday at Lopez.
“That’s baseball. That’s why we play from the first to the last pitch to make the last out,” Lopez coach Victor Martinez said. “Very proud of our guys. All I ask of them is to give me their full effort, and they did. We have nothing to put our heads down about. We just fell short, and we have to move on. We had great pitching. (Villafranca) was getting stronger as the game progressed. Our kids had quality at-bats facing a great pitcher, so that was positive.”
