The Sundown Roughnecks traveled to face the Tahoka Bulldogs in a district baseball matchup this past Friday night, resulting in the Roughnecks falling 15-6 across seven innings.
Sundown held a 3-0 lead after the second inning, which Tahoka would respond to by outscoring them 9-1 in the third and fourth innings, and then 6-2 in the final three frames to ultimately hand the Roughnecks the loss.
The two teams tied 10-10 in hits, but Tahoka would best Sundown 8-1 in walks drawn and 1-10 in errors to secure the win.
“Hats off to Tahoka, they competed really well after we beat them on (last) Tuesday," Sundown Head Baseball Coach Matthew Schovajsa said. "We did a lot of good things, collecting 10 hits. We just couldn't string them together in one inning to have a big inning. We hit the ball well again, a lot of times hitting it hard right to a defender. That's how baseball goes sometimes. We will get after it in practice and get ready for a big series with Morton."
Luck didn't favor Sundown in the game, but nevertheless, many Roughnecks still put together great performances at the plate.
Standouts included left fielder Gordon Mata going ¼ with two RBI's and a stolen base, second baseman Joey Lopez going 1/3 with an RBI and a walk, third baseman Mark Campos going 1/3 with an RBI, shortstop Ryland Baldwin going 1/3 with an RBI and a double, right fielder Ryan Pope going 2/3 with two runs scored and two stolen bases, and center fielder Braiden Lara going 2/4 with a double, a run scored and a stolen base.
On the mound, Jaxon Reynolds pitched two innings and struck out three batters; Lopez pitched an inning and struck two batters; Cooper Day recorded two outs and a strike out; and Baldwin pitched two innings with a strikeout.
The loss drops the Roughnecks to 5-6 overall and 1-1 in district play. As Coach Schovajsa noted, they'll be back in action against Morton for a series. They play early in the week at Morton and then on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. at home.