Edinburg 8, Rio Grande Valley 7
The Edinburg Roadrunners held on for the 8-7 victory over as the rally by the Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings fell short in game one of the best-of-three series Tuesday night at Harlingen Field.
EDINBURG, TX --
Leading 8-3 the Roadrunners allowed four runs in the bottom of the eighth as the tying run was thrown out at the plate setting up the bottom of the ninth for Paul Koss who closed out the game.
The Roadrunners (1-0) got the scoring started in the top of the first against Celson Polanco. Vincent Blue led off with a double and then moved to third on a sacrifice bunt. Carlos Hereaud then hit an RBI groundout to second scoring Blue from third. Joe Weik then hit a solo homerun giving Edinburg the 2-0 lead.
The WhiteWings (0-1) got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second. Mario Mercedes hit a one-out double and then moved to third on a single by Nestor Castillo. Roberto Rodriguez then followed with an RBI single that score Mercedes cutting into the lead 2-1.
Wilmer Pino added to the Roadrunners lead with an RBI double in the top of the third. A fielding error then allowed Pino to score and the inning to continue. Stantrel Smith and Felix Molina followed with RBI singles making it 6-1 Edinburg.
After the Roadrunners added a run in the top of the fourth, the WhiteWings got single runs in the bottom of the fourth and fifth innings cutting into Edinburg’s lead 7-3.
Another error by the RGV defense allowed Weik to score in the top of the seventh extending the Roadrunners lead 8-3.
The WhiteWings got a sacrifice fly from Romulo Ruiz in the bottom of the eighth. Later in the inning with the bases loaded, Roberto Rodriguez walked with the bases loaded scoring Welinson Baez. Jacinto Cipriota then followed with a two-run double that made it an 8-7 ball game. Rodriguez, the tying run, was thrown out at the plate.
Paul Koss came in for the save, his first of the playoffs, and pitched a scoreless ninth giving Edinburg the 8-7 victory.
The Roadrunners and WhiteWings will play game two of the best-of-three series Tuesday night at Edinburg Baseball Stadium. Jose Oyervidez (0-0) is expected to face Luis Noel (0-0) with the first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
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