LYFORD — A big fourth inning helped the Banquete Bulldogs rally back to defeat the Lyford Bulldogs 10-5 Friday evening at Bulldog field in Game 1 of a Class 3A bi-district playoff series.
Trailing 3-2, Banquete scored six runs in the fourth to take control and take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-3 series. Both teams will meet in Banquete today at noon for Game 2.
“I think we fought hard and I think we came out with some good energy,” said Lyford head coach Chris Cervantes. “I felt like as the game progressed certain plays didn’t go our way, but our kids continued to battle. At times we would get runners in scoring position and we were just unable to bring them in, but we’re looking forward to tomorrow and we feel confident in our ability and what we can do.
“If we can play mistake-free baseball, we have a real good shot at extending the series. All season we’ve been battling big innings and if we can eliminate the big innings we’ve got a good shot.”
Despite the disparity on the scoreboard, Lyford was able to stay with Banquete and hold a lead through the game’s first three innings.
Banquete opened the scoring in the top of the first as Chris Pacheco nailed an RBI single to drive in Jarren Hernandez for the early 1-0 lead. However, Lyford was able to respond by scoring after junior Ramsey Reyna hit a deep ball to the left field wall bringing in junior Andrew Reyna on an RBI triple to tie the game at 1-1.
But Lyford found itself down again 2-1 heading into the bottom of the third. With bases loaded and no outs, Layne Klostermann drove in Andrew Reyna for his second run of the night on a sacrifice fly. The run knotted the score and it was not Lyford’s final run of the inning. Shortly afterward, senior Tristan Bayless platted Ramsey Reyna to give the Bulldogs their first lead of the game.
However, in the top of the fourth inning, Banquete erupted for six of its 10 runs of the night.
“We had some key mistakes in some certain spots,” said Cervantes about the inning. “We missed some opportunities to make the routine play, but in baseball that’s what usually happens if you don’t make the routine plays – you get yourself into situations you don’t really want to be in.”
