Tag Archives: Kyte McDonald

Chanclas down Sod Squad to end skid, stay in playoff hunt

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Jalen Battles doubles to left-center field to drive in the Flying Chanclas' first two runs of the game in the fourth inning against the Amarillo Sod Squad on Wednesday at Wolff Stadium. - photo by Joe Alexander

Jalen Battles doubles to left-center to drive in the Flying Chanclas’ first two runs in the fourth inning against the Amarillo Sod Squad. – Photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
For The JB Replay

After losing four straight games, the Flying Chanclas de San Antonio rebounded Wednesday with a 5-1 victory over the Amarillo Sod Squad, keeping alive hopes for a spot in the Texas Collegiate League playoffs.

A crowd of 591 at Wolff Stadium watched as the Chanclas snapped out of their funk on offense with 10 hits.

They scored two runs in the fourth inning and three in the sixth to back the pitching of Marcelo Perez, Arturo Guajardo and Garrett Egli, who combined on a seven-hitter while striking out 14.

The Flying Chanclas' Johnny Hernandez scores the first run of the game on a double by Battles. - photo by Joe Alexander

Johnny Hernandez scores the first run of the game on a double by Jalen Battles. – photo by Joe Alexander

Perez, from TCU, pitched six scoreless innings, allowed four hits and struck out eight.

Offensive standouts included Jalen Battles, whose two-run double in the fourth gave the Chanclas the lead and some much-needed momentum.

Also, Kyte McDonald ignited the three-run sixth with a one-out double. Ryan Flores highlighted the uprising with an RBI single for the third run of the inning to make it 5-0.

During the four-game losing streak, the Chanclas produced only five runs on 22 hits. In that time, they batted a cool .173 as a team.

Coming into Wednesday night, they had been shut out in two of their last three games and had scored runs in only two of their past 37 innings.

The Flying Chanclas' Grant Smith scores the second run of the game on a double by Jalen Battles in the fourth inning against the Amarillo Sod Squad on Wednesday at Wolff Stadium. - photo by Joe Alexander

Grant Smith, from first base, races around to score on Battles’ blast to make it 2-0. – photo by Joe Alexander

They finally broke through in a two-run fourth. With two outs, Johnny Hernandez singled, Grant Smith walked and Battles drove both of them home with a two-run double off Amarillo starter Jared Lyons.

In the sixth, a walk and then a double off the bat of McDonald set up another big inning, putting runners at second and third with one out.

The Chanclas scored on Smith’s sacrifice fly, a wild pitch and a run-scoring single by Flores, the team’s RBI leader.

Runs-hits-errors

Amarillo — 1 7 0
San Antonio — 5 10 0
Please click on a link here to see Wednesday night’s box score.

Records

Amarillo 16-10
San Antonio 14-11
Please click on a link here to see the TCL standings after Wednesday night’s games.

Coming up

Amarillo at San Antonio, 7:05 p.m. Thursday. Next, three games vs. Round Rock. San Antonio at Round Rock, 7:05 p.m. Friday. Round Rock at San Antonio, 7:05 p.m. Saturday. San Antonio at Round Rock, 7:05 p.m. Sunday. (End of regular season).

Playoff races

In the TCL, two teams from each division qualify for the playoffs. With four days left in the regular season, eight teams remain alive — four in the South and four in the North.

In the South, Round Rock and Brazos Valley (both 15-11) are tied for first, followed by the Chanclas (14-11) and the Acadiana Cane Cutters (11-13). Round Rock tightened the race Wednesday with a 5-0 victory at home over Brazos Valley.

The North is also a four-team race featuring the Sod Squad (16-10), the Tulsa Drillers (15-10), Frisco RoughRiders (14-10) and the Amarillo Sod Dogs (14-12). Tulsa beat the Sod Dogs 5-3 on the road in Amarillo.

Flying Chanclas starting pitcher Marcelo Perez went six shutout innings and allowed four hits with eight strikeouts and two walks against the Amarillo Sod Squad on Wednesday at Wolff Stadium. - photo by Joe Alexander

Flying Chanclas starting pitcher Marcelo Perez went six shutout innings and allowed four hits, with eight strikeouts and two walks. – photo by Joe Alexander

Thompson, McDonald lead the Chanclas to a 5-3 victory

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Kyte McDonald singles in the bottom of the fourth inning to drive in the Flying Chanclas' first run of the game against the Victoria Generals on Sunday at Wolff Stadium. - photo by Joe Alexander

Kyte McDonald singles in the bottom of the fourth inning to drive in the Flying Chanclas’ first run of the game against the Victoria Generals on Sunday at Wolff Stadium. – photo by Joe Alexander

The Flying Chanclas de San Antonio don’t always play with precision. But they do play with heart on most nights. They did it again Sunday, rallying from an early deficit and then hanging on late to claim a 5-3 victory over the Victoria Generals at Wolff Stadium.

In the finale of six straight games between the teams, the Generals led by one run when the Chanclas exploded for four in the bottom of the fifth to take charge, 5-2. Jordan Thompson ripped a two-run double and Kyte McDonald had an RBI single in the outburst.

Flying Chanclas starter Lance Lusk from Sam Houston State pitched 6.0 innings and allowed two runs on five hits with five strikeouts and no walks against the Victoria Generals on Sunday at Wolff Stadium. - photo by Joe Alexander

Flying Chanclas starter Lance Lusk, from Sam Houston State, earned the victory by pitching six innings and allowing two runs. He lowered his earned run average to 2.35. – Photo by Joe Alexander

The win allowed the Chanclas to take the series with the Generals, 4-2. It also lifted them into first place in the Texas Collegiate League South Division with an 11-6 record. San Antonio won two of three in Victoria and two of three in San Antonio.

It was the second straight night that the Chanclas climbed out of a deficit on the scoreboard to win, though it wasn’t quite as dramatic as Saturday night’s 7-6 victory in 11 innings. On Saturday, the Chanclas trailed by 5-1 early and by 5-2 going into the bottom of the ninth.

On Sunday, Thompson and McDonald took matters into their own hands. Thompson, batting leadoff, went 2 for 4 and had 2 RBI. Batting fifth, McDonald enjoyed a 3-for-4 performance. He also had two RBI. It was McDonald’s second 3-hit game of the week.

Lance Lusk pitched six innings for the Chanclas, the longest outing by a starter for the team this season. He allowed two runs on five hits. Jaime Ramirez Jr. and Connor Schmidt finished the game.

With the bases loaded in the ninth, Schmidt got Steve Bonuz on a fly ball to left field to end the game.

Flying Chanclas right fielder Jordan Thompson races toward the warning track to catch a fly ball against the Victoria Generals on Sunday at Wolff Stadium. - photo by Joe Alexander

Flying Chanclas right fielder Jordan Thompson races toward the warning track to catch a fly ball Sunday night. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Runs-hits-errors

Victoria — 3-7-0
San Antonio — 5-9-0
Please click on the link for Sunday’s box score.

Records

Victoria 7-11
San Antonio 11-6

Coming up

The Chanclas have a day off on Monday before they open a series with the Brazos Valley Bombers Tuesday night at Wolff. Brazos Valley is second in the TCL South at 9-6. Acadiana won at home, defeating Brazos Valley 5-1 Sunday night.

Notable

Kyte McDonald hit for a .346 average against the Generals. In six games, he went 9 for 26, including a double, a triple and a home run. McDonald also produced five RBI and scored six runs.

Flying Chanclas catcher Tyler LaRue throws to first on a bunt against the Victoria Generals on Sunday at Wolff Stadium. - photo by Joe Alexander

Flying Chanclas catcher Tyler LaRue throws to first on a bunt against the Victoria Generals on Sunday at Wolff Stadium. – photo by Joe Alexander