Playoff chances diminish after tough loss

CUERO — It’s been said in baseball over again that you can’t have more than three outs in an inning. Once the errors start to pile up, it makes hard for a team to overcome them and come back.

The Gonzales Apaches found that out the hard way on Wednesday as they traveled to Cuero to take on the Gobblers to stay alive in the playoff race. Although the number four was lit under “E” in the scoreboard, those four errors were big, leading to three runs for the home Gobblers as they took down Gonzales 8-2.

“[Errors] didn’t help,” Apaches’ head coach Lance Alford said. “Crucial errors that hurt, a lot. We got to cut that out in order to get to that next level. We’re learning, we’ve done a lot of good things this year and we’ll get better from this, we’ll improve, we won’t be making these mistakes.”

Kolby Kifer took to the mound, pitching all seven innings. Early on Kifer struggled, specifically in the second and third innings when he gave up four hits, two walks, one hit batter and four runs. In the bottom of the second, with two outs and no man on, Kifer gave up a single then two straight walks and scored a man on a hit batter.

“We got to be out there from the first pitch, we got to go from the start,” Alford noted. “[Kifer] came around and really started to get accurate, he competed well in the later innings.”

In the last three innings Kifer gave up four innings, two of which were earned, four hits, one walk and five strikeouts.

At the plate, the Apache batters again struggled early on though they put the ball in play better than they did against Navarro.

Cuero’s Garret Veit started the game, pitching in five innings, giving up four hits, one run, walking one and striking out nine.

Senior Jonathan Banda led the team with his, going 2-for-3. Alford praised the first baseman’s efforts at the plate.

“I thought Jonathan’s first hit of the night [to left field], I thought he hit the ball really well,” Alford said. “He had some good at-bats too. He has battled a lot. He’s consistently putting the ball in play and making sure he gets the most out of every at-bat. And I’m proud of him for that.”

Meanwhile Zach Akers had one of the two runs for the Apaches as he went 1-for-3 with a double. In the fourth inning, Akers was on second and Banda was on first awaiting Colby Cox’s at-bat. Down 0-2, Cox fought back to a 2-2 count before blasting an RBI double down the line to plate Akers.

“If we can keep doing that, we’re going to be great,” Alford explained. “When you get two strikes your strike zone has got to expand a little bit and you got to shorten up your swing and put the ball in place especially with somebody like Colby with his speed we can use it and he did exactly what we’ve been telling him to do and he put the ball in play and got a double. We got to do more of that. If we can get better at that then we’ll be OK.”

The Apaches continued fighting through the seventh inning when they were down 8-1 and at the bottom of the lineup. With one out on the board, Alex Ortiz stepped up to the plate and got a single. Garrett Rickman then plated Ortiz with an RBI double to cut the lead to 8-2.

“That’s what we need, the bottom of the order got to produce and they did a good job right there,” Alford said. “It’s coming together but it needs to be the whole game but we are getting there, we’re getting there, I like the improvement. Those guys are coming back so it’s a positive, it really is.”

The game would end with Blake Cox making it to first after a hit made it to Cuero’s third baseman, allowing him to take Ortiz out in between second and third. Devin Banda then hit the ball to pitcher Joey Baker who finished the game with a put out.

The Apaches now fall to 3-6, now getting swept by Cuero who are at 6-4. In order the district standings are at Navarro (9-0), La Vernia (7-2), Wimberley (6-3), Cuero (6-4) and Gonzales (3-6). With three games left, the Apaches need Wimberley to lose out (they play each other on Friday) and the Apaches need to win out themselves (they take on La Vernia on Tuesday and then Canyon Lake on April 29) for a shot at a postseason run.

Even though a playoff run for the Apaches isn’t likely, Alford wants to see his team compete, regardless of district record.

“Because if you don’t go out and compete, everything we’ve done this year is totally lost,” Alford warned. “Compete your butt off these last three games and fight tooth and nail for everything we get because if we don’t then everything that we’ve had worked for and gotten to, all the progress we’ve made this year will be lost.”

Tonight’s game is at Wimberley, scheduled at 7 p.m.