In the midst of a hotly contested playoff race, the Mexia baseball team scored two runs in the top of the seventh inning to slip past Buffalo, 5-4, in a District 20-3A game at Buffalo on Friday, April 12.
They scored a 9-4 decision at Elkhart on Monday, April 15, in a game that has been postponed last week due to inclement weather.
With the victories, the Blackcats are 7-4 in district and tied with Groesbeck for second place. The two teams were slated to play at Mexia on Tuesday. Fairfield and Palestine Westwood are a game behind, tied for fourth place with 6-5 records.
Trailing 4-3, Mexia scored two runs in the top of the seventh inning and relief pitcher Brett Swift set Buffalo down in order in the home half of the seventh to earn the victory.
Gabe Solis led off the seventh inning with a single for Mexia. Keydren Majors laced a triple to left field to score Solis with the tying run.
Adriano Mendoza singled in Majors with what proved to be the winning run.
Swift did not allow Buffalo to get a runner on in the seventh. He induced an popup to catcher Nate Burns, a fly out and then caught a Buffalo batter looking at strike three to end the game.
Swift came on in the fifth inning and pitched 2 1/3 innings for the victory. He allowed one hit and one earned run, struck out two and did not walk a batter.
Majors pitched the first 4 2/3 innings. He surrendered seven hits and three runs, all earned, walked one and fanned four.
Mexia drew first blood with a run in the top of the first inning. Buffalo answered with two in the home half of the frame to take a short-lived lead. The Blackcats scored single tallies in the second and third innings to go ahead, 3-2.
Buffalo rebounded with a run in the fifth to tie the game and one in the sixth to take the lead, setting the stage for Mexia’s seventh-inning rally.
Four players had two hits each to account for a majority of the Blackcats’ 10 hits.
Majors had a pair of hits, knocked in two runs and scored one run. Burns had a pair of doubles and drove in two runs.
Swift andAndres Venegas each were 2-for-3 and scored a run.
Blackcats 9, Elkhart 4
Mexia built a 9-0 lead and coasted to the victory at Elkhart on Monday, April 15.
Mexia opened the scoring with a run in the top of the first inning and tacked on four more runs in the third. They added one in each of the fourth and sixth innings and finished with two in the seventh.
Venegas shut out Elkhart for six innings to get the victory. He ran into trouble in the seventh. Mendoza and Hunter Murphy combined to finish the game.
Venegas did not allow a hit in 6-plus innings. He surrendered three earned runs, walked seven and struck out six.
Anthony Schaff singled in two runs to highlight the fourrun third inning.
Mexia had eight hits to just two for Elkhart.
Burns had three hits, scored two runs and knocked in one. Schaff had two hits, scored a run and drove in two. Mendoza and Murphy each had a hit and scored two runs. Boyd Sterling had a hit and drove in two runs.
The Blackcats will return to action Friday when they travel to Palestine Westwood for a key district encounter.
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