SAN BENITO — Down one run in the top of the sixth inning, Edinburg Vela’s Jayden Martinez ripped a double into the gap to tie the game
Rudy Gonzalez brought Martinez home on the next at bat to give the Sabercats a lead they would not relinquish in a 5-3 win over the San Benito Greyhounds in the first game of their best-of-three bi-district playoff series.
“I felt good, I just wanted to get a ball that I could handle,” Martinez said. “They were throwing sliders a lot, and I was out in front. I sat back and they threw a fastball to me. I just wanted something that I could drive to bring in the run.”
Gonzalez said he has been successful on 2-0 pitches this season, and he took advantage of that count again Friday night.
“I had a 2-0 count, and I was trying to find a pitch that I could drive,” Gonzalez said. “I was just trying to get something to drop, and it did the job.”
Vela tacked on another run in the seventh.
“It was a big win,” interim Vela coach Greg Garcia said. “Their pitcher came out and threw strikes. We came out a little slow, but our kids are resilient, they stuck together and in the end we pulled out an important win.”
San Benito opened the scorning in the second inning. Atticus De Leon’s double scored one run and Jorge Rodriguez’s speed forced an errant throw at first. The bad throw allowed two runs to score, giving the Greyhounds a 3-0 lead.
“First of all, I am proud of my kids,” San Benito coach Ramiro Partida said. “They never gave up, they battled the whole time and they showed up ready to play. That is a great team over there, they are No. 20 in the state of Texas for a reason and have a 13-game winning streak for a reason. I am proud of my kids for how they battled, and see how it goes (today).”
In the third, a bad throw from a San Benito infielder gave Vela two runs and a pitching duel between San Benito’s Andre Mercado and Vela’s David White ensued.
Mercado pitched well, getting out of jams in the fourth and fifth innings. Vela left bases loaded in the fourth and runners on second and third in the fifth.
White’s fastball was on point, and that opened up his slider to freeze San Benito batters.
“I felt good on the mound,” he said. “I threw a lot of strikes and put the defense to work today. Thank God for them. I put them to work, they backed me up and we did what we had to do.”
