Pitching staff shines in combined shutout
July 20, 2009 - United League Baseball (ULB)
Coastal Bend Thunder News Release
July 20, 2009 - Robstown, TX - Alejandro Martinez dazzled for the Coastal Bend Thunder in his debut this evening at Fairgrounds Field. The 4-0 victory over Amarillo moved Coastal Bend into sole possession of second place and improved their record to 21-18 overall and 15-4 at Fairgrounds Field. The native of the Dominican Republic struggled with his control at times, but for the most part, delivered a strong performance. Martinez pitched five shutout innings, struck out four, walked four, and allowed only two hits to pick up his first win as a member of the Thunder. The Coastal Bend pitching staff combined for a three hit shutout this evening, as Carlos Rangel did not allow a hit and Benny Cepeda allowed one single in relief.
Coastal Bend got on the board in the bottom of the first inning tallying one run. Dustin Smith singled sharply to right field to lead off the inning. Zazueta and Smith executed the hit-and-run perfectly, as Smith advanced to third on Zazueta's single through the hole vacated by Amarillo's Eric Brown, who was covering second on the steal. When Leivi Ventura grounded into a double play, Smith scored from third to give the Thunder a one run advantage.
The score remained 1-0 until the bottom of the fourth when the Thunder tacked on two more runs. Leivi Ventura got to second on an errant throw by the Amarillo shortstop Willie James and moved to third on Manny Mejia's flyout to right. The next batter, Carlos Rodriguez, tripled deep to the right centerfield wall sending home Ventura from third. Amarillo starter Justin Phillips intentionally walked Bryan Vickers to set up the double play with Chris Lewis at the plate. Lewis had other ideas and the Thunder second baseman drove a fly ball to deep left field, which sent Rodriguez home on the sacrifice fly giving the Thunder a three run lead.
Carlos Rangel took the mound in the bottom of the sixth and picked up right where Martinez left off. The 18-year-old right-hander did not allow a hit in his three innings of relief and struck out four before turning the ball over to Benny Cepeda to close out the game in the ninth. Cepeda pitched a scoreless ninth inning allowing only one hit to preserve the win.
The Thunder added some insurance in the bottom of the eighth to put the game out of reach. Dustin Smith led off with a bunt single and Amadeo Zazueta walked. On the double steal, Amarillo catcher Justin Wenger threw to second, but his throw airmailed the second baseman and allowed Smith to score to push the lead to 4-0.
Coastal Bend and Amarillo meet Tuesday at 7:05 in the final game of this four game series. Thirsty Tuesday features $2 bottles of beer all night long.
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