Stallions come out flat in home loss
Benny Munoz/The Madera Tribune
Madera South’s Johnathan Spraggins slides in safely to third base after a two-run, pinch-hit triple in Saturday’s 11-7 loss to the Reedley Pirates at Eddie Chapa Field.
The Madera South Stallions allowed seven runs in the first three innings and couldn’t dig out of the hole against the Reedley Pirates.
“We came out flat,” Head coach Alan Sandoval said. “The energy in the second half of the game was good. We lost the game in the first half. We had no energy. If we come out with even half the energy we are capable of, we win that game.
The Stallions closed the game with seven runs in the final four innings, but the damage had already been done in Saturday’s 11-7 loss.
“There were some positives. We just have to put it together,” Sandoval said.
Starter Jasir Alvarez lasted through just four-plus hitters. He allowed a hit and walked two. Brian Mones allowed five runs in 2 2/3 innings. Joseph Cosio allowed two unearned runs in 1 1/3 innings. Bryan Malagon got out of the fourth without allowing another run. Jorge Gutierrez allowed a run and two walks in his inning. Johnathan Spraggins had a perfect seventh inning.
“We threw out a lot of good arms, but we threw too many balls,” Sandoval said. “Postiives moving forward is we found some roles for guys. We know Malagan can come in and get outs. We know Cosio is really effective with runners on and crazy things happening. He can come in and get us out of an inning.”
The six Stallion pitchers threw a combined 146 pitches, but just 78 were strikes (53 percent). They walked five and allowed 12 hits.
Murf Gray led the Stallions with a single and a double. Spraggins drove in two with a pinch-hit triple.
“It was great to see from what I saw from Spraggins,” Sandoval said. “He has only been here for three days.”
Alvarez allowed two walks, threw two wild pitches and allowed a sacrifice fly before he was relieved by Monges.
Monges struck out the next batter, but the next batter singled home a run, but Reedley was thrown out trying to advance to third to end the inning.
The Pirates added five to their lead in the third. The Pirates had five hits in the inning, including two bunt base-hits, to jump out to a 7-0 lead.
Madera South cut into the lead in the fourth inning with a two out, nobody on rally. Gilbert Moisa started the rally with a single up the middle. Alvarez was hit by a pitch. Jorge Gutierrez doubled to left to drive in Moisa.
Spraggins came in to pinch-hit and lined a full-count pitch down the right field line. The Reedley right fielder tried a diving catch and missed. When the dust settled, Spraggins slid in to third for a triple while Alvarez and Gutierrez scored.
However, the Pirates scored three unearned runs in the fifth inning with three singles and a pair of errors for a 10-3 lead.
Madera South added a run in the fifth with another nobody on, two out rally. Gray lined a double down the left field line and scored on a throwing error on a grounder from Xavier Cantu.
Unfortunately, the Pirates put a run on the board in the fifth with a single, a walk and another single to load the bases. A groundout scored the run for an 11-4 lead.
Madera South tried to make things interesting in the seventh. Anthony Gamiz led off with a single up the middle. He came around to score two batters later on an Elijah Tang single.
Tang advanced to third on a single from Gray. After a strikeout, Gilbert Moisa drew a walk to load the bases.
Alvarez singled to left field to drive in Tang and Gray. However, the next batter flied out to end the game with an 11-7 loss.
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