Wolverines walk it off agains t Eagles

The Springlake-Earth Wolverines’ varsity baseball team walked off with a win on Thursday evening in Slaton, as they took down the O’Donnell Eagles, 8-7, in the Class 1A Bi-district Baseball Play-offs.

With the win, the Wolverines improve to 7-6-1 overall on the season.

Xavyer Mosqueda came out dealing on the mound for the Wolverines, as he got the lead-off man, Mason Bolton to strike out swinging for out number one. Nehmaih Vela drew a walk to give the Eagles their first base runner of the game, but Logan Porterfield struck out swinging for out number two. Vela, who was stealing on the pitch, stole second and took third on the throw down that rolled into center field. However, he would be stranded on base, as Gage Garces struck out swinging to retire the side.

Slade Beerwinkle led off for the Wolverines with a slow roller to third base, but he was able to beat the throw to first to give Springlake-Earth a base runner. Beerwinkle stole second on a pitch, before Alex Alvarez popped up to left-center field, but the ball was dropped, putting runners on the corners for the Wolverines. Beerwinkle scored on a throw to third that rolled into left field, as Alvarez advanced to second on the play with the score, 1-0.

Evan DeLeon hit a sacrifice grounder to the shortstop and was thrown out at first, as Alvarez advanced to third on the play. Davey Crandall would line out to second base and Mosqueda hit a onehopper to the second baseman, who got the out at first to end the inning.

Mosqueda went back to work on the mound as he got John Resendez to strike out looking for out number one in the top of the second inning. Martin Baeza drew a walk and a balk put him on second with one out, before Omar Vela hit a sacrifice grounder to second, moving Baeza to third on the play with two outs. Mosqueda would strand the runner again, as he got Roman Castro to strike out swinging to retire the side.

Josh Samaron got the home half of the second inning started with a triple through the left side that rolled all the way to the left-center field fence and Braden Bradley laid down a bunt and was thrown out at first, but it allowed Samaron to score to extend their lead to, 2-0. Tyler Tanaro, though, would strike out looking and Matthew Garza would strike out swinging to end the inning.

The Eagles got their lead-off man aboard in the top of the third inning, as Jacob Chavera drew a walk. Mason Bolton followed it up with a single to left field, but Nehmaih Vela lined out to Beerwinkle at shortstop for out number one. Porterfield ripped a two-RBI double into left-center field to tie the game, 2-2, but Garces popped up to Beerwinkle in shallow left field for out number two. Resendez drew a walk to make it two runners for O’Donnell, but Mosqueda got Baeza to strike out swinging to retire the side.

Beerwinkle drew a lead-off walk to open the bottom of the third inning for the Wolverines, but Alvarez struck out looking for out number one. Beerwinkle took second on a bad pick-off to first by Mason Bolton and DeLeon laid down a bunt and reached base safely, as nobody covered first, leaving runners on the corners for Springlake-Earth.

DeLeon stole second, before Crandall hit a sacrifice grounder to the right side to score Beerwinkle and move DeLeon over to third with two outs. Mosqueda, though, lined out to center field to end the inning, as the Wolverines stranded one runner on base, but regained the lead, 3-2.

Omar Vela drew a walk for the Eagles in the fourth inning, and he took second on a pitch, before Castro lined out to DeLeon at third; he would try to turn the double-play at second, but the throw rolled into right field, allowing Omar Vela to advance to third with one out.

DeLeon relieved Mosqueda on the mound for the Wolverines and Chavera hit a sacrifice grounder to Bradley at second base, who got the out at first as the run scored to tie the game, 3-3, with two outs. Mason Bolton was thrown out at first on a dropped third strike to end the inning.

The Wolverines were kept off of the board in the bottom of the fourth inning and in the top of the fifth inning, DeLeon got Nehmaih Vela to strike out looking for out number one and Porterfield was thrown out at first on a dropped third strike for out number two.

Garces was hit by a pitch and would steal second on a pitch and third on another, the thrown down to third by Crandall got by Mosqueda allowing the run to score, giving O’Donnell their first lead of the game, 4-3. Redendez singled on an error by Mosqueda at third base, but on the next play he was picked off by DeLeon and was eventually called out for leaving the base path to retire the side.

Garza singled over shortstop to lead-off the home half of the fifth inning for Springlake-Earth and a balk put him on second, before Beerwinkle drew a walk to put two runners on. Alvarez hit into a fielder’s choice to Porterfield at third base, who stepped on the bag for out number one. DeLeon singled to left-center field to load the bases and Crandall hit a sacrifice fly ball to center field, that allowed Beerwinkle to tag-up and score from third and Alvarez to advance to third on the throw home tying the game, 4-4.

Mosqueda would clear the bases during the next at-bat, as he blasted a three-run homerun to left field to give the Wolverines a threerun lead, 7-4. Samaron singled under the glove of Nehmaih Vela at second base and Bradley hit an infield single to the left side, before Tanaro popped up to third base to end the inning.

Both teams went scoreless through the sixth inning and in the top of the seventh, Mason Bolton hit a grounder to Beerwinkle at shortstop, but a bad throw to first bounced out of play, putting the runner on second with no outs for the Eagles. Nehmaih Vela and Porterfield both struck out swinging for two outs, but Garces ripped an RBI-double into left-center field to make the score, 7-, and Garces stole third and scored on a throw down into left field by Crandall to cut the lead to, 7-6.

Resendez was hit by a pitch and Baeza beat out an infield single that was bobbled by Bradley at second base. Omar Vela was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Resendez scored on a past ball to tie the game, 7-7, before DeLeon got Castro to strike out looking to retire the side.

DeLeon hit a chopper over Resendez on the mound, but it was fielded by the shortstop, Mason Bolton and thrown to first for the out to start the bottom of the seventh inning. However, Crandall hit a shot through the left side that got under the glove of the charging left fielder, rolling all the way to the fence, allowing Crandall to race around the bases for an inside the park walk-off homerun to win the game for the Wolverines, 8-7.

Mosqueda started on the mound for the Wolverines, giving up three runs and five walks, while earning six strikeouts in 3.1 innings of work. DeLeon pitched the final 3.2 innings, giving up four runs and three walks, while earning eight strikeouts.

The Wolverines will play the winner of Kress and Booker in the Regional Quarterfinal Round of the 1A Baseball Play-offs next week.