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Tempers Flare, RoadRunners Win 10-4

August 19, 2009 - United League Baseball (ULB)
Coastal Bend Thunder News Release


Robstown, Texas - The Coastal Bend Thunder dug a hole that they simply could not dig themselves out of tonight at Fairgrounds Field. Edinburg put up four runs in the first and never looked back as they cruised to a 10-2 victory. Miguel Martinez earned his seventh victory on the season for the RoadRunners after scattering six hits and two runs over his seven innings of work. The only blemish on Martinez's pitching line came from Bryan Vickers' third home run of the series in the bottom of the sixth.

The Thunder, very much like last night, could not find a way to drive in runners and cash in the scoring opportunities. Toro Trevino took the loss for the Thunder. If you throw out the first inning, Toro did not pitch that poorly. However, the RoadRunners got to him in that first inning before he could settle in and touched him up for seven runs in six innings of work. Hunter Owen and Bryon Smith each had two hits and two RBIs for the RoadRunners in tonight's contest.

Edinburg jumped on top with the first batter of the game. On the second pitch from Thunder starter Toro Trevino, Wilmer Pino, the RoadRunner second baseman, smacked a home run to leftfield and the score was 1-0. A hit batter, an error, and a pair of singles led to two more runs and the Thunder trailed by three. The fourth run came across when Eric Gonzalez walked with the bases loaded to force in a run.

The RoadRunners added on to their lead with a single run in the top of the third. A groundball off the bat of Eric Gonzalez with runners on first and third allowed Bryon Smith to score and push the score to 5-0.

Edinburg once again extended their lead in the top of the six. Hunter Owen's two RBI double drove in both Sergio Guerrero and Carlos Hereaud and gave the RoadRunners a seven run lead.

Bryan Vickers hit his third homerun in as many days to get the Thunder on the board in the bottom of the sixth. The two run blast made the score 7-2 in favor of the RoadRunners.

Tempers flared in the top of the ninth after the RoadRunners put up three more runs to extend the score to 10-2. The benches cleared but fortunately no punches were thrown when Thunder reliever Miliade Venas plunked Robert Matlock. Matlock was upset and shouted a few words in the direction of Venas on his way down to first before being restrained by teammates and the home plate umpire. The umpires and players handled the situation pretty calmly despite a little shouting, and cooler heads prevailed before it got out of control.

However, with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and two strikes, Edinburg reliever Bryan Heaston, in an act of obvious retaliation for the incident in the top of the ninth drilled Alfred Joseph. The pitch before both third base coach Mike Goss and Joseph argued with the home plate umpire almost as if they anticipated the hit by pitch coming. Both teams converged on the first base line with Joseph and Heaston yelling at each other with the most intensity. Once again, there were no punches thrown and fortunately, no one was injured in the fray. The Thunder put up two runs in the ninth after the benches cleared to make the final 10-4.

The Thunder returns home for their final regular season home series of the 2009 season to face the Laredo Broncos starting Monday, August 24. Come support your hometown team as they make the final push towards the playoffs in United League Baseball.

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