The Littlefield Wildcats’ varsity baseball team dropped a heart-breaker on the road on Friday against Lamesa, 6-5.
With the loss, the Wildcats fall to, 8-9-1 overall, 1-2 in district play.
Both teams went scoreless until the bottom of the second inning when Lamesa struck first.
Zeke Vela singled on an error by Isaiah Rodriguez at second base, but Major McNeese got Zeph Sifuentes to strike out swinging for out number one. Luke Martinez hit into a fielder’s choice to Rodriguez at second base, who went the short way to second for the force out for out number two. Martinez took second on a pitch, before Xavier Zorola hit a pop up to Rodriguez in shallow right field that was dropped, allowing Martinez to score from second, making the score, 1-0.
Moses Moreno grounded out to Jordan Trevino at shortstop to end the inning.
After keeping the Wildcats off the board in the top of the third, the Golden Tornadoes would add to their lead in the bottom half of the inning, as Gage Garcia had a pop up dropped by Rodriguez in shallow right field, allowing the runner to take second on the play. Dom Soliz struck out looking for out number one and Aiden Vela popped up to Rodriguez at second base for out number two.
Christian Ruiz hit an RBIsingle through the left side and took second on a bad throw to first by McNeese, making the score, 2-0. Zeke Vela singled up the middle, but Ruiz was canned at home by center fielder, Ethan Garcia, as Brenden Bowman was able to apply the tag at the plate to get out of the inning.
The score remained, 2-0, in favor of Lamesa until the top of the fifth inning, when the Wildcats broke through.
Chip Green led things off with a single on an error by Sifuentes at third base. He took second on a wild pitch and Trevino singled on a high pop up that was missed by Ruiz on the mound, giving the Wildcats runners on first and second with no outs.
McNeese ripped a shot down the first-base line that landed at the bottom of the right field fence for a two-RBI triple to knot the game up, 2-2. Bowman struck out looking for out number one, but on the next play, McNeese stole home on the pitcher to give the Wildcats the lead, 3-2, however he would have to leave the game due to an injury to his hand.
Caballero struck out swinging and Jonavan Weaver grounded out to first to retire the side.
Caballero relieved McNeese on the mound, as he got Moreno to fly out to Jaron Cabello in center field for out number one and got Gage Garcia to strike out looking for out number two. Soliz laid down a swinging bunt that was bobbled by Caballero in front of the mound to give them a base runner.
Aiden Vela doubled to left field and Ruiz followed it up with an RBI-single up the middle, moving Aiden Vela to third, leaving runners on the corners with the score tied, 3-3. Bowman sent a throw down to second that got Aiden Vela to break for the plate. The throw was cut off by Trevino and thrown home for the out at the plate to end the inning.
In the top of the sixth inning, Rodriguez struck out swinging for out number one, but Ethan Garcia singled to right field to give the Wildcats a base runner. Green ripped a shot into the outfield and took second on the throw home that was not in time to get Ethan Garcia at the plate, making the score, 4-3.
Trevino was put on to load the bases and Cabello drew an RBI-walk to make the score, 5-3.
Aiden Vela relieved Ruiz on the mound for Lamesa, as he got Bowman out on a dropped third strike and Caballero lined out to center field to retire the side.
In the bottom half of the inning, Zeke Vela hit a shot off of the glove of Rodriguez at second base, but a charging Trevino was able to pick up the ricochet and throw it to first for the out for out number one. Sifuentes laid down a swinging bunt and was safe at first to give Lamesa a base runner.
Sifuentes took second on a past ball and Martinez singled through the left side to put runners on the corners for Lamesa. Sifuentes scored on a bad throw down to second by Bowman, as Martinez, who stole second on the play, also advanced to third with the score, 5-4.
Zorola drew a walk to put runners on the corners and took second on a pitch, before Moreno hit a sacrifice fly ball to Markus Rosales in right gfield that allowed Martinez to tag up and score from third to tie the game, 5-5. Gage Garcia beat out an infield single to Trevino at shortstop, as Zorola advanced to third on the throw to first.
Zorola stole home on a heads up base running play to give Lamesa the lead, 6-5, before Soliz flew out to Ian Mendez in left field to end the inning.
In the top of the seventh, after Weaver flew out to right field, Rodriguez singled to right field to put the tying run on base for Littlefield. Garcia struck out swinging for out number two, before Rodriguez took second on a ball away from the catcher and third on a pitch. However, he would be stranded on third, as Mendez flew out to right-center field to end the game with Lamesa taking the first meeting of the season, 6-5.
McNeese pitched four innings, earning four punch outs, while giving up two runs. Caballero pitched two innings, giving up four runs and one walk, while earning one strike out.
The Wildcats were at Brownfield on Tuesday. Results were not available at press time. They will continue district play on Friday with a home game against Denver City.
First pitch is scheduled for noon.