WEB EXCLUSIVE: Greyhounds thump Cardinals, grab first district victory

By ARMANDO GARZA

Special to the NEWS

After dropping their first two district games to Brownsville Hanna and Los Fresnos, the San Benito Greyhounds were understandably in a bit of a lull.

That all changed on this past Friday afternoon.

The ’Hounds broke open a tie game and surged ahead to take down Harlingen 5-2 at Greyhound Park to get their first 32-6A victory on the young season.

With the win, San Benito improved to 6-4 overall and more importantly, 1-2 in 32-6A play.

“We wanted that first district win big time,” ’Hounds skipper Ram Partida said. “This was a big game because the last thing we wanted was to go 0-3. We had to get that win.”

And get the win they did against the rival Cardinals.

In the third, J.R. Gaitan reached and scored as did Jestin Sauceda for the first runs of the game for San Benito. The Cardinals later knotted the game at two as the teams traded early blows.

However all through the afternoon, the common theme for the ’Hounds was how they played relaxed and focused, something Partida said the coaches wanted from the club.

“We talked between innings about having fun,” he said. “We know losing isn’t fun. So every time we brought em in, we talked about it and apparently it worked. They played much looser.”

One thing’s for sure: Gaitan was relaxed and cool.

With the Greyhounds up 3-2 in the home half of the fifth, Gaitan unloaded a two-run home run to left field to give the home team some cushion it would not relinquish.

The winning pitcher for San Benito was Eric Arizpe, went the distance in a complete game victory.

The hits don’t stop for the ’Hounds as they will face a salty Brownsville Veterans club next week as district play rolls on.

“This is a tough district. A win like this can always make us better,” Partida said. “We’ve got a tough game coming up Tuesday with Veterans. We tell the kids every game we lose hurts, and every game win helps.”

 

Permanent link to this article: https://www.sbnewspaper.com/2015/03/23/web-exclusive-greyhounds-thump-cardinals-grab-first-district-victory/

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