Wildcats come up short on the road against Lamesa

  • Littlefield’sBradyn Redman catches a fly ball in left field, during the bottom of the third inning to retire the side, as the Wildcats fell to Lamesa on Tuesday, 5-4. (Staff Photo by Derek Lopez)
    Littlefield’sBradyn Redman catches a fly ball in left field, during the bottom of the third inning to retire the side, as the Wildcats fell to Lamesa on Tuesday, 5-4. (Staff Photo by Derek Lopez)
  • Littlefield’s Major McNeese makes a sliding catch in right-center field to retire the side, during the bottom of the fifth inning, as the Wildcats fell to Lamesa on Tuesday, 5-4. (Staff Photo by Derek Lopez)
    Littlefield’s Major McNeese makes a sliding catch in right-center field to retire the side, during the bottom of the fifth inning, as the Wildcats fell to Lamesa on Tuesday, 5-4. (Staff Photo by Derek Lopez)

The Littlefield Wildcats’ varsity baseball team dropped a tough contest on the road to Lamesa on Tuesday, 5-4.

With the loss, the Wildcats fall to 12-9 overall, 4-3 in district play.

In the top of the first inning, Isaiah Rodriguez popped up to Jonah Muniz in foul territory at third for out number one, but Adam MacDonald drew a walk to give the Wildcats a base runner. Major McNeese popped up to Muniz at third for out number two, but Brenden Bowman singled through the left side, bringing Ja’Den Williams on as the courtesy runner for the catcher.

The runners advanced on a past ball, but Ian Mendez struck out swinging to retire the side.

In the home-half of the first for Lamesa, Xavier Zorola singled up the middle to lead things off and Braylon Hood drew a walk to put two runners on for the Golden Tornadoes. Adam Garcia hit a sacrifice fly to Markus Rosales in right field, but the runners tagged up and advanced on the play with one out.

McNeese would recover on the mound, as he got Rogelio Vela to pop up in foul territory to Chip Green at third base for out number two and he got Muniz to strike out looking to end the inning.

Vela got Bradyn Redman and Green both to strike out swinging to begin the second inning, but Gabriel Villanueva singled to left field and Rosales drew a walk to give the Wildcats two base runners with two outs. Rodriguez hit a chopper to Muniz at third, but it turned into an RBI-double on a throwing error to first, putting the Wildcats in front, 1-0.

Rosales scored on a past ball, as Rodriguez advanced to third on the play, making the score, 2-0, and MacDonald drew a walk to put runners on the corners for Littlefield. However, McNeese would ground out to Xavier Zorola at shortstop to retire the side.

McNeese started the bottom of the second inning by getting Christian Zorola to strike out swinging for out number one, but he gave up back-to-back walks to Hector Zamora and Jeremy Garza, giving Lamesa some base runners. Gage Garcia laid a bunt down on the third-base side, but it was fielded by McNeese and thrown to third for the force out to get the lead-runner.

Xavier Zorola drew a walk to load the bases, but Gage Garcia was picked off at second by McNeese to end the inning, as Lamesa left the bases loaded, heading into the third inning.

The Wildcats had nothing going in the top of the third, as Bowman struck out swinging, Mendez struck out looking and Redman grounded out to Muniz at third to retire the side.

Lamesa came out swinging in the bottom of the third, as Hood singled on an error by Mendez at shortstop and Adam Garcia singled to center field, moving Hood to third to put runners on the corners with no outs. Vela hit an RBI-double over Redman in left field to cut the lead in half and make the score, 2-1, but McNeese got Muniz to strike out swinging for out number one.

Christian Zorola drew a walk to load the bases again for Lamesa, but McNeese got Zamora to strike out swinging for out number two and he got Garza to fly out to Redman in left field to end the inning.

Both teams were kept quiet in the fourth inning, but in the top of the fifth inning, MacDonald grounded out to Adam Garcia at second base for out number one and McNeese grounded out to first base for out number two. Bowman singled past Muniz at third, bringing Williams on as the courtesy runner for the catcher and Mendez followed it up with a shot to right field that was missed by Gage Garcia on a do-or-die play for a two-run inside of the park homerun, pushing the Wildcat lead to, 4-1. Redman would strike out swinging to retire the side.

The score remained until the bottom of the sixth inning, when Lamesa came back to the plate. Zamora hit a chopper to second base that was fielded by Redman, but the throw to first was missed by MacDonald, landing Zamora on second for Lamesa with no outs. Jeremy Garza popped up in foul territory to MacDonald at first base for out number one, but Diego Vidaurre drew a walk to make it two base runners for the Golden Tornadoes.

Green got Xavier Zorola to strike out swinging for out number two, but Hood drew a walk to load the bases. Adam Garcia knocked an RBI-single into left field to trim the lead to, 4-2, and Vela followed it up with a three-RBI double to left-center field, giving Lamesa the lead, 5-4.

Green was relieved on the mound by Rodriguez, who got Muniz to pop up to Green at third to end the inning.

In the top of the seventh, MacDonald singled to left-center field to give the Wildcats a base runner, but McNeese struck out swinging and on the same play, MacDonald was called out at second trying to steal, giving them two outs. Bowman would ground out to first to end the game, as Littlefield dropped the contest, 54.

McNeese started on the mound pitching three innings, giving up three hits, five walks, and one run, while earning four strikeouts. Green came on in relief, pitching 2.2 innings, giving up four hits, two walks and four runs, while earning two strikeouts and Rodriguez pitched 0.1 innings to close out the game.

The Wildcats closed out the regular season on Friday agaginst Denver City. Results were not available at press time. Post-season info is TBA.