Broncos fall in marathon contest, hold half game lead for third place
Written by admin, Aug 30, 2010, 0 Comments
Courtesy Danny Angel,
(August 29th, LAREDO, TX)-In a game that featured 13 pitchers, 19 walks, 39 hits, 40 runs and lasted four hours and thirty-seven minutes, saw the Broncos fall to the Thunder 23-17. Laredo holds a half game lead over the White Wings for third place after Rio Grande split their double header with Edinburg. The Broncos must win tomorrow night in the season finale to finish as the third seed for the ULB playoffs.
The Broncos assured themselves a playoff spot with their victory last night over the Coastal Bend Thunder, but where they would finish was still very much in doubt entering tonight’s contest at Veterans Field. The Broncos hold a one game lead over the White Wings entering tonight’s contest, who played a double header in Edinburg. Laredo Sent RHP Robert Roth (2-5) to the mound against RHP Toro Trevino (3-8) of the Thunder.
Roth got into trouble right away in the top of the first inning. A lead off walk to Lamar Guy, followed by an infield single to Mike Lewis and with one out an RBI single to Gianican Rosa made it a 1-0 Thunder lead. Patty Matera then brought home a run with an RBI groundout and Travis Adams knocked in Rosa with an RBI single and the Thunder had a 3-0 lead after a half inning.
The Broncos got one back in the bottom of the first when Mike Murphy reached on an infield single and stole second base. A throwing error charged to Adams, the Thunder catcher moved Murphy to third base and he came home on a wild pitch by Toro Trevino to cut the lead to 3-1 Thunder.
The Thunder jumped all over Roth again in the top of the second, scoring two times in the inning. Roth walked Carl Johnson to begin the inning and Johnson stole second base. Dustin Smith knocked Johnson in with a single and an error charged to Diaz in left field moved Smith to second base. Smith moved to third on a wild pitch by Roth and came home on an RBI groundout by Lamar Guy to make it 5-1 Thunder.
Roth faced the first three batters of the third, allowing back to back singles to Matera and Adams and then a three run bomb off the bat of Juan Cabrera made it 8-1 Thunder. Roth was pulled after giving up the long ball, pitching two plus innings, allowing eight hits, eight runs, all earned, walking two and striking out two. LHP Brian Buchanan (6-4) came into the game and Carl Johnson doubled. Buchanan then struck out the next two hitters he faced before allowing an RBI single to Mike Lewis, which made it 9-1 Thunder. RBI singles by Matera and Adams rounded out the scoring in the inning and the Thunder had an 11-1 lead.
The Broncos offense awoke in the bottom of the fourth scoring four runs in the inning and closing the gap. Two singles to start the inning put runners on first and third and Ozzie Canseco hit a sacrifice fly to score his brother Jose Canseco from third base to make it 11-2 Thunder. Ryan Flynn brought home a run with an RBI double to make it 11-3 Thunder and Jason Diaz cleared the bags with a two run double to finish the scoring in the fourth, cutting the lead to 11-5 Thunder.
In the bottom of the fifth the Broncos once again brought home four runs in the inning. Jonel Pacheco doubled to start off the inning, a walk was issued to Jose Canseco and Salvador Paniagua hit his 23rd home run of the year to make it 11-8 Thunder. Ozzie Canseco singled right after Paniagua and came home on a Ryan Flynn sacrifice fly to make it 11-9 Thunder.
Jonathan Cisneros, the league leader in batting entering today, cleared the bases with a three run double in the bottom of the sixth to give the Broncos their first lead of the night 12-11. Doug Thennis followed up with his ninth home run of the season, a two run shot that made the score 14-11 Broncos.
Coastal Bend, in the top of the seventh plated two runs to pull within in one of the Broncos when Patty Matera knocked in Fenwick, who walked, and Rosa who singled with a single. The score was 14-13 Broncos.
The Broncos answered back with two runs of their own in bottom of the seventh to pull ahead 16-13. Mike Murphy singled and moved to third on two passed balls charged to Travis Adams before scoring on a wild pitch charged to RHP Tyler Friese. Jose Canseco walked and then Paniagua walked followed by Ozzie Canseco being hit by a pitch to load the bases. Jose Canseco came home to score on a passed ball for the second run of the inning.
Coastal Bend then scored six runs in the top of the eighth to take a 19-16 lead. A solo home run by Juan Cabrera, his second of the game, started the inning for the Thunder. RHP Alex Morales (1-1) came into the game and faced three batters. Morales walked Carl Johnson, struck out Dustin Smith, and Lamar Guy hit a single. Broncos starting pitcher RHP Juan Peralta (9-3) then entered the game and was dinged for three more runs. A two run single by Patty Matera made it 19-16, Matera picked up his sixth RBI of the game.
The Broncos added one run in the bottom of the eighth off LHP Jacob Liedka (1-5), making it a 19-17 ball game.
RHP Jose Canseco (0-0) came into the ball game for his second appearance out of the Broncos bullpen and gave up three runs to the Thunder. Two came home to score on the triple by Ron Fenwick and then a wild pitch allowed Fenwick to score and the final was 23-17 Thunder after Canseco walked Carl Johnson to push home the final run.
WP: Haggerty (1-2)
LP: Peralta (9-3)
S: None
