Hays’ Phillip Abreo went yard for the second straight game Thursday night, this time in a 30-10 drubbing of Lehman at Lobo Field. (Photo by Judy Cooper)
The Hays baseball team had more hits Thursday night than Elvis and George Strait combined.
The hit parade began early, as the Rebels scored at least six runs in three of the game’s five innings in a mind-boggling 30-10 victory over the Lobos.
After only two innings of play, Hays had amassed 19 hits and had a 23-3 lead.
“There’s always that tension when we play Lehman because they are a cross-town rival,” said Hays centerfielder Trace Gandy. “We wanted to beat them down.”
Hays scored seven runs in the top of the first inning, as Lehman starter Orlando Banda didn’t make it out of the first inning. In all, Lehman, which was coming off back-to-back district wins over Elgin and Del Valle to jump into the thick of the playoff race, used four different pitchers before the second out was recorded in the second inning.
“I don’t know if we’ve had 19 hits in three games combined before tonight,” Hays head coach Doug Ragsdale joked after the game. “Actually, we finally started to hit the ball on the nose the last couple of innings Monday against Lockhart and I think it carried over to tonight.”
On a night in which the wind was gusting to 30 miles per hour toward the outfield, Hays got RBI singles from Mason Gulley, Victor Rubio, Stefen Navarrro, Anthony Pesina and Trace Gandy in the top of the first to help stake the Rebs to a 7-0 lead.
Early on, it looked like Lehman was going to make it a shootout, as the Lobos responded with three runs of their own in the bottom of the first keyed by Chris Tello and Cesar Ornelas RBIs.
But Hays more than broke the game open with a 16-run outburst in the top of the second inning, when the Rebels sent a total of 19 men to the plate and at one point had 11 straight batters reach base before the Lobos recorded an out.
Gulley, Rubio, Pesina, Shane Kelley, Chase Brunneman, and Reuben Miller all recorded at least one RBI single before Phillip Abreo, who hit a walk-off home in the eighth inning against Lockhart on Monday, hit another blast. Abreo’s towering shot over the fence in left field gave Hays a 23-3 advantage after only one-and-a-half innings of play.
It was a welcomed sight for the Rebels, who had struggled at the plate the previous three weeks.
“I think this is a great sign,” Abreo said. “It shows we can still hit the ball and gives us a lot of confidence heading into the second half of district play.”
Lehman head coach Toby Robinson said Lehman, which fell to 2-3 in District 17-4A, lost its edge early against the Rebs.
“When they started scoring runs, it really hurt our confidence,” Robinson said. “We’re still not where we need to be with our pitching or our defense. That’s disappointing because we have a lot of senior pitchers.”
Nick Cerda was one of the lone bright spots for the Lobos, as his two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth helped Lehman get into double-digits in the scoring column.
Dylan Morrow got the start on the mound and went three innings for Hays in a game that was called after five innings because of the 10-run rule.
“This isn’t an indication of how good Lehman’s baseball team is,” Ragsdale said. “I was really expecting to come in here and have it be a two or three run game either way. But when you’re playing on a night with wind gusting so hard it even accelerates ground balls that are hit, things can get out of hand pretty quickly.”
Hays (13-6, 4-1 17-4A) remains a game behind San Marcos in the chase for the district title and will close out the first half of its 17-4A schedule Tuesday at home against Manor.
“I couldn’t be more proud of these kids right now,” Ragsdale said. “The way they’ve handled some real pressure situations over the last week or two and have come together as a team has been outstanding.”
Lehman will look to rebound on the road Tuesday night when the Lobos travel to play Lockhart.
