Loboes Beat Pecos to Tie for District 2-3A Title Lead
    By Jessica Ray, Staff Writer ~~The Monahans News, April 14, 2008

The Lobo baseball team defeated the district favorite Eagles on Monday, tying with Pecos for the top spot in 2-3A.  A slew of Pecos errors, solid Lobo pitching, and patience at bat all paid off for Monahans, who had a 5-4 win in Pecos.

Aaron Armendariz got it started with a single on the first pitch of the night.  Blake Hughes was at-bat with one out, and the hit was dropped twice in the infield to leave him safe at first base.  Steven Valles took the night's first RBI with a single, to bring Armendariz home.

The bottom of the first saw Hughes pitching the game and Valles behind the plate.  The battery gave the Eagles three up and three down to stuff the bottom of the first.

Ricky Robledo singled on a Pecos error in the second, and later stole second and third, putting him close enough to take home when Julian Hernandez hit a fly ball that was caught for the second out.  Matt Montoya made it to first on a passed ball, then stole second with Armendariz at bat.  Armendariz hit right to the first baseman on the next pitch, and should have been easily outed.  Instead, an error let him get to first base, while allowing Montoya to run home for the 3-0 score.

The first batter in the bottom of the second took a base on balls, but was later picked off by Steven Valles in a steal-at-tempt at second.  Hughes struck out the batter, and a subsequent at-first out ended the second inning.

The third inning was the most threatening for Monahans, who were unable to score in the top.  In the bottom, a Pecos player took first base after being struck by a pitch.  He ran home on a basehit by Temo Reyes.

With JR Lujan at bat, Hughes walked the ball to the baseline in an effort to catch Reyes off the bag.  Reyes did some dancing between Hughes, Rios and Armendariz.  The trio eventually lost control of the ball in the shuffle and Reyes successfully stole second.

A base hit later, Reyes took the second run of the night, ending the third inning score at 3-2, Monahans leading.

In the bottom of the fifth, Hughes caught a bunt-at-tempt, turned pop-up, then tossed it to the first base to out the batter who was off base for a double-play.  Hughes then struck out the next Eagle batter to end the scoreless fifth. 

With two more inning left in the game, the Loboes needed some insurance runs before game's end.  They got one when the first pitch of the sixth inning was hit over the left field wall by punch hitter Kyndrick Anderson.  Hughes hit safely to first with two outs, the Valles sent a hit right down the left field line.  It was fair, and Hughes came home to open the game 5-2.

In the bottom of the sixth, the bases with only one out.  Two Eagles stole home, to again make it a one-run game.  Hughes handled the next two batters with strikeouts to take the game into the final inning.

The Eagles changed pitchers in the seventh, and the Loboes struck out three times before bringing in any runs.

Hughes returned the favor in the bottom, striking down the first three Eagles up to end the game in a 5-4 Lobo victory.

In the weeks to come, both the Loboes and the Eagles will put out their best efforts in the battle for the district title.  The teams will match up again before the season's end on April 22 in Monahans.

The Loboes will be in Presidio tonight (Monday) to face the Blue Devils.  Monahans and Pecos are tied for the district title, and anything could happen between now and the end of the season.  Tonight's game near the border will begin at 7:30 pm.

keyed by: Jordan Latham, Senior 2008