Chanclas move into first place in Texas Collegiate League South

When the Flying Chanclas de San Antonio take the field tonight, they’ll be playing to protect their lead in Texas Collegiate League’s South Division.

A four-game winning streak has lifted the Chanclas (8-4) into first place ahead of the Brazos Valley Bombers (6-4).

The Chanclas opened a three-game road series in Victoria Tuesday night with a 2-1 victory over the Victoria Generals.

The Generals (5-8 in the TCL South) will host the Chanclas again tonight and Thursday before the two teams move to San Antonio to play another three-game set at Wolff Stadium starting Friday.

Riggs Threadgill threw five shutout innings Tuesday night as the Chanclas won their fourth straight to match a season-high winning streak.

Continuing a string of solid pitching performances for the Chanclas, Threadgill combined with Matthew Sesler and Connor Schmidt in limiting the Generals to five hits.

The Chanclas’ earned run average, as a result, fell to a league-best 2.42.

Chanclas leadoff batter Jordan Thompson delivered an RBI single for a 1-0 lead in the fifth inning. In the seventh, Lee Thomas made it 2-0 with a run-scoring base hit.

The Generals pulled to within 2-1 in the eighth against Sesler when Josh Elvir singled to drive in the only run for the home team.

Victoria put the tying run on base with two out in the ninth against Schmidt when Hobbs Price reached on catcher’s interference.

But Chanclas shortstop Jalen Battles ended it with a nice play, as he ran down a pop fly in foul territory off the bat of Sam Haley.

Runs-hit-errors

San Antonio 2 – 7 – 1
Victoria 1 – 5 – 2
Please click on the link for Tuesday night’s box score.

Records

San Antonio 8-4
Victoria 5-8

Coming up

San Antonio at Victoria, 7:05 p.m. Wednesday.

Notable

The Chanclas have won two straight games on the road after losing four of their first five. They’ll play at Victoria on Wednesday and Thursday before returning to San Antonio to host the Generals for three more starting Friday at Wolff Stadium.

Chanclas complete sweep with a 6-1 victory over the Hairy Men

The Flying Chanclas' Tyler Flores pitched three scoreless innings in relief against the Hairy Men on Sunday at Wolff Stadium. - photo by Joe Alexander

Relief ace Tyler Flores retired all nine batters he faced as the Flying Chanclas de San Antonio defeated Round Rock at Wolff Stadium.- Photo by Joe Alexander

Lance Lusk, Tyler Flores and Connor Schmidt combined on a four-hitter Sunday night as the Flying Chanclas de San Antonio continued their pitching dominance in the Texas Collegiate League, downing the Round Rock Hairy Men, 6-1, at Wolff Stadium.

With the victory, San Antonio swept the three-game series against Round Rock.

The Chanclas entered the series finale with the TCL’s best earned run average at 2.93, and they lived up to their statistics with a solid performance against one of the league’s best hitting teams.

San Antonio pitchers struck out 10 and walked one. The only run they gave up was unearned. Flores was masterful, fanning four in throwing three perfect innings — nine up, nine down. Even though the defense committed two errors, the Chanclas made several strong plays in the field.

In the fourth inning, third baseman Johnny Hernandez robbed Round Rock of a hit with a diving grab on a line drive in the hole. Jordan Thompson made another fine play to end the inning. Playing a hit in right field, he bare-handed it and fired to second base, cutting down Cody Vannoy for the third out.

Leading by the eventual final score, the Chanclas added another solid play in the top of the eighth. Second baseman Grant Smith gloved a hard-hit ground ball that kicked up high on a bounce off the pitcher’s mound. Smith flipped to shortstop Jalen Battles, who tagged second and fired to first for the double play.

Lee Thomas led the offense with two hits and two RBI. A big moment for Thomas came in the eighth when he smashed a ball that hit the center field wall. The drive brought in Ryan Flores to score all the way from first. In jubilation, Thomas slid into third base, popped up and threw a fist in the air.

Runs-hits-errors

Round Rock 1 – 4 – 1
San Antonio 6 – 8 – 2
Please click on the link to see Sunday’s box score.

The Flying Chanclas' Lee Thomas celebrates after his RBI triple off the wall in center in the bottom of the eighth inning. - photo by Joe Alexander

Lee Thomas celebrates after an RBI triple in the eighth inning. Shaking off a slow start to the season, Thomas had two hits to raise his average to .219. – photo by Joe Alexander

Records

San Antonio 7-4
Round Rock 6-6

Coming up

The Chanclas have the day off Monday. They open a three-game road series at Victoria on Tuesday.

The Flying Chanclas' Johnny Hernandez hits an RBI double in the fourth inning against the Hairy Men on Sunday at Wolff Stadium. - photo by Joe Alexander

Johnny Hernandez hits an RBI double in the fourth inning Sunday as the Flying Chanclas remained undefeated at Wolff Stadium. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Notable

The Chanclas (7-4) moved into a virtual tie for first place in the TCL South with the Brazos Valley Bombers (6-3) …

The Chanclas’ pitching staff lowered its ERA to 2.65. Flores, from Clark High School and Texas A&M-Kingsville, lowered his personal ERA to 0.90. In five outings, he has yielded one run on five hits in 10 innings. Flores has struck out 11 and walked four …

Round Rock entered the series against the Chanclas on a hot streak, scoring 35 runs in a three-game sweep of Victoria.