Thunder Flirt with Comeback but Fall 10-4
August 7, 2009 - United League Baseball (ULB)
Coastal Bend Thunder News Release
August 7, 2009 - Robstown, Texas - After spotting the WhiteWings a generous nine run cushion, the Coastal Bend Thunder threw up a four spot in the bottom of the fifth and looked poised to battle all the way back. The WhiteWings and their ace, Reymond Cruz, had other ideas as the Thunder fell 10-4 at Fairgrounds Field in Robstown.
Tonight was simply not the night for Thunder starter Toro Trevino. Trevino, who is normally very effective, especially at Fairgrounds Field, struggled with his command and only lasted two and a third innings. The WhiteWings scored five runs off Trevino and jumped out to an 8-0 lead before the Thunder registered their first hit.
WhiteWing first baseman, Brian Nichols, belted two home runs, scored three runs, and drove in four to set the pace for the Rio Grande Valley offense. WhiteWing starter, Reymond Cruz, cooled off the hot Thunder bats early as he only allowed one hit through the first four innings. He earned his fifth win of the season after allowing four runs on seven hits while striking out four and walking two in his seven innings of work.
Rio Grande Valley jumped out to an early lead scoring three times in the top of the second and twice in the top of the third. Nichols and Baez belted back-to-back home runs to start the top of the third and Cabrera came home later on a Septimo sacrifice fly. The White Wings extended their lead to five and drove Toro Trevino from the ball game. After reaching on an error, Santana came around to score on another Thunder miscue. Cabrera's RBI double drove in Nichols and provided the other run in the inning.
Things went from bad to worse in the fourth when Brian Nichols hit his second home run of the game. The three run blast came off Thunder reliever Alex Gett and barely cleared the leftfield fence but did extend the Rio Grande Valley lead to eight.
The WhiteWings scored at least a run in four consecutive innings when Holloway scored on a Rodriguez RBI groundout in the top of the fifth. This made the score 9-0.
Coastal Bend finally got on the board in the bottom of the fifth scoring four runs to make the score 9-4. Vickers got things started with an infield single and scored later on an RBI single from second baseman Chris Lewis. Leivi Ventura added to the scoring with an RBI single of his own to drive in Butler from third and making it a 9-2 ballgame. The Thunder scored a third run when Chris Lewis scored on an RBI double from Manny Mejia. The next batter, Alex Fernandez, grounded out to first but drove in Ventura from third.
Benny Cepeda allowed his first home run of the season to Justin Holloway to extend the WhiteWing lead to six.
After a four game road trip to Amarillo, the Thunder returns home for an eight game home stand. Starting Wednesday, August 14, Coastal Bend hosts league-leading San Angelo for four games and then hosts Edinburg for four games as well.
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United League Baseball Stories from August 7, 2009
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