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LAREDO TX --  

August 17, 2009

Laredo – Reymond Cruz (6-5) pitched eight innings of one-run baseball to lead the Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings past the Laredo Broncos 4-1 tonight at Veterans Field.

The WhiteWings are now winners of three-straight while the Broncos are losers of 12-in-a-row.

Cruz struck out five while scattering six hits and one walk. The lone Broncos (21-45) run against Cruz came in the bottom of the eighth, when rookie Ryan Flynn hit his first career home run.

The WhiteWings (31-35) struck against Aaron Jenkins (0-1) in the top of the fourth. Brian Nichols led off with a triple into the right field corner and scored on a single by Juan Melo. One out later, Jose Torres walked, moving Melo to third. Sandy DeLeon followed with an RBI-single to make it 2-0.

Joaquin Rodriguez led off the fifth with a walk and scored on a one-out double by Nichols to make it 3-0.

That was it against Jenkins, who gave up seven hits and five walks over seven innings while striking out three.

In the top of the eighth, Melo hit a leadoff double against Carlos Alvarez and scored on a double by Welinson Baez to make it 4-0.

Jose Fragoso pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his first save. Closer Julio Santana was unavailable after pitching five innings over the previous two games.

The WhiteWings and Broncos play game three of this four-game series tomorrow night at 7:35 at Veterans Field. Right-hander David Cross (0-0) is expected to face right-hander Gregorio Martinez (4-5).