Mule Baseball @ Lockney Tourny (3-14&15-14)

Mule Baseball @ Lockney Tourny (3-14&15-14)

The Mules played in the Lockney Longhorn Tournament over Spring Break. The Mules had reached the finals by shutting out the Nazareth Swifts 10-0 and immediately returned to the field and dropped the Lockney JV Longhorns 12-3.

“There just was not much we could do about the loss to Childress,” said Mule coach Wes Boatmun. “The weather was beautiful when the game started and it was beautiful when we left town. But the Bobcats had one hit and a runner reach third base. We only had a base hit.”

“I think it would have been a very good game if we could have continued to play. But that is baseball. Now we get ready to start district in Abernathy on Tuesday.”

The Mules took the field against the Childress Bobcats at four in the afternoon as the home team. Nacho Elizalde was on the hill for the Mules and gave up a base hit to right field by the first batter. He hit the second with a pitch to put runners at first and second. 

A pop fly down the first base line was caught by Dustin Smith for the first out. Elizalde then walked the bases loaded. The fifth batter of the inning blasted a two-hop ground ball by Elizalde but Matt Barron broke toward second on the crack of the bat. 

Barron made a one-handed stab on the ball, took one step before stepping on the bag for the second out and fired a strike to Smith at first to complete the double play. Had the play been filmed it would have made the highlight reel on the ten o’clock news. 

Grey Johnson slammed a two out single to center field for the only hit of the inning for the Mules. 

Elizalde had only thrown four pitches to the first batter of the second inning when the lightning detector pegged out because of a bright flash and almost instant clap of thunder. The lightning and thunder continued for 45 minutes and the rain poured down turning the field into a large shallow lake. 

Wesley Clarkson struck out 10 and just gave up two runs in the five inning shut out of the Swifts. 

Matt Barron singled up the middle to lead off the first inning and stole second base. Barron went to third on a sacrifice bunt by Nathan Rejino. Johnson sent a fly ball to deep center field and Barron scored after tagging up to put the Mules on top to stay. 

The Swifts first hit came in the bottom of the first inning after Clarkson struck out the first batter. He got the third batter to ground out to Rejino at second and set the next batter down swinging. 

Elizalde bunted his way on to start the second inning. Jesus Manzanares hard hit ground ball was knocked down by the pitcher but Manzanares beat the throw to first base and Elizalde went to second. 

Barron hit a line shot down the right field line and Elizalde scored from second and  Manzanares went to third. Rejino reached first on an error by the first baseman, Manzanares scored and Barron went to third base. 

Johnson struck out swinging but the catcher missed the ball and Johnson reached first when the catcher over threw the first baseman. Barron scored from third to put the Mules ahead 4-0.

Clarkson got the first two Swifts to strike out in the bottom half of the second inning. The third batter grounded the ball back to Clarkson and he tossed the ball to Smith at first for the third out. 

Nether team scored in the third inning. 

The Mules exploded for five runs in the top of the fourth inning. Rejino reached on a ground ball and moved to second on a sacrifice by Johnson. Smith was hit by a pitch and Bryce Mauricio pinch ran for him. 

Rejino went to third on a passed ball and Mauricio took second. Rejino scored on a passed ball and Mauricio went to third base. Keagan Gonzales drew a walk. Mauricio scored on a passed ball and Gonzales went to second. 

Danny Campos lined a single to center and Gonzales went to third. A series of errors by Nazareth allowed Gonzales and Campos to both score. The Mules led 9-0 after four innings. 

Clarkson stuck out two in the bottom of the fourth inning after giving up a base hit. Nazareth did not score. 

Barron tied the hands of the third baseman with a ground ball and reached first base. Barron stole second base. He went to third base on a single by Rejino, made the turn and motored on home for the final Mule run. 

Clarkson got the first Swift to ground out to Campos at third base and fanned the final two batters to complete the shut out. 

Campos powered the Mules both on the mound and at the plate in the Mules second game of the day. He had three RBIs on singles in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. The Mules defeated the Lockney JV 12-3. 

Campos allowed no earned runs, struck out seven in his four innings on the mound. 

Everything seemed to work for the Mules at the plate in the seventh inning when they scored seven runs. 

The Mules led 5-2 going into the seventh inning. Barron singled to right field to start the inning and stole second and third during Johnson’s at bat. He scored on a single to left field. Johnson moved to second on the throw home. 

Smith singled to center and Johnson rounded third and was waved home by Coach Boatmun. Beto Diaz singled to left field and Smith went to second. Gonzales laid down a bunt to third base and Smith went to third and Diaz to second. Gonzales beat the throw to first to load the bases. 

Manzanares bunted back to the pitcher and Smith was forced out at home but the bases were still loaded. Jason Florez tied the hands of the shortstop with a hard hit ground ball. Diaz scored, Gonzales went to third, Manzanares reached second and Florez was safe at first on a bad throw. 

Gonzales scored on the throw and Manzanares and Flores went to second and third. Campos bunted to third to squeeze home Manzanares and Flores went to third. Campos beat the throw to first. 

Campos stole second base. Barron singled to right field to score Flores and Campos. The Mules led 12-2 with a half inning left to play. A walk and an error allowed one Longhorn to score before the game ended. 

The Mules traveled to Abernathy Tuesday to open district at seven PM against the Antelopes and return home Saturday to take on the Tulia Hornets at noon.