MIDDLETOWN — Dallas Packard”s three-run home run to right-center field capped a six-run El Molino fourth inning and lifted the Lions to a 13-4 non-league varsity baseball victory over the Middletown Mustangs on Saturday at Wes Martin Field.
Missing two starters, including injured pitcher/shortstop Eric Schenck (bruised knee), the Mustangs (9-6) were trailing by only a 2-1 score entering the fourth.
“That”s when we started kicking the ball around,” Middletown coach Mitch Tucker said. “We made, I think, four errors in the inning. They were costly errors.”
Middletown got three of those runs back in the bottom of the fourth but couldn”t any closer in the final three innings.
The Mustangs had a chance to do some damage against El Molino starting pitcher Austin Riggs in the bottom of the first but came away with only one run despite three hits and a walk.
“We needed to hang a number on that guy (Riggs) early and we didn”t do it,” Tucker said. “We let him off the hook.”
Andres Fernandez opened the bottom of the first with a triple and scored on Andy Garcia”s single. Bryan Holt followed with a single to put runners at first and second. A one-out walk to Kyle Brown loaded the bases but the Mustangs” next two hitters struck out and popped out to end the inning.
Garcia (2-for-3) was the only Middletown hitter with more than one hit. Saul Preciado, the first of three Mustangs pitchers, took the loss.
Freshman Mike Davis (1-for-2) collected his first varsity hit for Middletown.
Schenck”s injury will likely keep him sidelined for at least two more games, according to Tucker.
