Mustangs dropped to third after loss

LULING — With a playoff berth already clinched for the Mustangs, there’s only one more obstacle to take on before getting into the playoffs. A district title.

Tuesday saw the top two teams in District 27-3A face off with Nixon-Smiley taking on Luling, each with just one loss in the district. After seven innings of play it was the Eagles that came away with the 5-4 victory, dropping Nixon-Smiley to third with their 7-2 record and moving Luling up above with an 8-1 record. Poth sits at second currently with their 7-1 record.

Jarred Zumwalt, Luling’s ace, took to the mound and after facing him once already (a 6-0 Nixon-Smiley loss), Mustangs’ head coach Bobby Newman had a game plan in mind.

“After playing [Zumwalt] last time I think we gave up two earned runs out of the six and we’re thinking we can scratch one or two,” he explained. “We have [Jordan] Van Auken, he was able to come in. Our goal was to try to get through the fifth and obviously I thought two runs would be enough and we were trying to do that. You got to take chances with a good pitcher. Catcher throws it off into left field, there’s a run right there. We were trying to make things happen.

After giving up a run in the first via error, the Mustangs fought back and tied things up in the third inning. Colby Newman started things off with a double, then stole third base on Devin Hester’s at bat. Hester then came away with an RBI single and began his own aggressive trot around the bases before getting caught stealing at third.

Despite those early errors for the Mustangs, the defense shored up, including in the fourth where Hester made plays at second base, including a dive that not only stopped the ball from getting to the outfield but ultimately got the out at first.

“He’s made plays all year, that kid is good,” Newman said. “When the ball’s hit on the ground we want it to hit second base. He makes everything look routine [and] he’s only a sophomore.”

Nixon-Smiley then took advantage of mistakes themselves, as Jason Yell from the eight spot blasted a ball towards centerfield. The dropped ball allowed him to get to third base with scorers calling it a triple. Dylan Maldonado then came away with an RBI single and eventually rounded the bases on a hit by Van Auken. With two outs on the board, Van Auken stole third and eventually home on a throwing error by the catcher, giving Nixon-Smiley the 4-1 lead.

With four innings of pitching under Rodrigo Acevedo’s belt, Luling were able to get just two hits with three men reaching on errors. However that changed in the fifth inning when Acevedo would give up a single, a triple and a walk after leading off with a strikeout. The starter was pulled for Van Auken, ending his night pitching 4.1 innings with four strikeouts, four walks, four hits, four runs with just two earned.

With a man on second and third and one out on the board, Luling’s Alex Santana-Lopez hit the ball towards left field, a fly ball that was dropped, scoring Dazmen Wright to make the game 4-3 in favor of the visitors. The next batter hit a fly out to center, a routine play made by Colby Newman. The very next batter though, with two outs and a man on first and second, hit the ball again to center. This time, Newman backed up and tripped, tried to get back up and catch the ball but fell again, allowing both runners to score to give up a 5-4 lead to Luling. Van Auken would stop the bleeding with a strikeout.

“We dropped two balls in left field,” Nixon-Smiley’s head coach said. “[Yell has] been making plays all year long. It was still 4-3 and we got the ball hit exactly where we wanted it, if the ball is going to be hit in the air we want that kid in centerfield catching it and he fell, I mean what are you going to do?”

“We’re aggressive in the fifth on the bases, we fought hard, we came back, I mean we never quit,” Newman continued. “Even when we made those couple errors and hit and gave up the lead. I mean we still got out, that inning could have been a whole lot worse and we got out of it still down just a run.”

After finding ways to get hits off Zumwalt, the Mustangs were unable to find gaps in the infield as they went three up, three down in the sixth and seventh innings to end the game 5-4 in favor of Luling.

Van Auken ended his relief pitching 1.2 innings, giving up the winning run, though unearned, with two strikeouts, one hit and a hit by pitch.

At the plate, Yell led the team going 1-for-3 with a triple. Hester, Van Auken and Maldonado each had an RBI. Newman went 1-for-3 with a double and Joey Mendez went 1-for-3 with a double and two stolen bases.

The second loss to Luling makes it just two losses overall in District 27-3A for Nixon-Smiley. With Poth’s win on Tuesday, the standings read Luling (8-1), Poth (7-1) and Nixon-Smiley (7-2) for first, second and third.

A district title chase this close means the Mustangs have to win these last three games to get to a championship.

“Three wins, you got to win three,” Newman explained. “Friday, Luling and Poth have a big one. We got Goliad on Friday, we got to beat Goliad.”

“Like I told the kids we can’t let this one loss turn into two. We started a new saying called ‘erase and replace.’ I heard it from Ray Crockett from the Denver Broncos. Erase and replace. I told the kids after the game, if there was ever a time to really believe in that saying erase it and replace it and go back to work tomorrow and try to fix things up. That’s what we’re going to do.”

The Mustangs’ game against Goliad tonight at home is scheduled for 7 p.m. The Tigers are currently 2-6, still fighting for a fourth-place finish in the district.