Trailing by two runs early, the Tyler LaRue-led Flying Chanclas de San Antonio poured it on late for a 15-3 victory Saturday night against the Round Rock Hairy Men.
The game was played in Round Rock at the Dell Diamond.
The Hairy Men took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second. But after that, it was all Chanclas as they scored a season-high in runs courtesy of three errors, eight walks and six hit batsmen by the beleaguered home team.
Batting out of the seventh spot in the lineup, LaRue produced a season-high four hits, including a triple. He also scored twice and had a season-high three RBI.
LaRue, a former standout at Blanco, put on a show in the sixth inning when he belted a ball into deep center field. After it was fielded near the warning track, he rounded second, kept churning with surprising speed and slid in feet first for a triple.
Leyton Barry followed with a double to drive in LaRue, lifting the Chanclas into a 5-2 lead. Both Barry and Ryan Flores had two hits each in the game, with Flores driving in a pair of runs.
Chanclas bullpen pitching also excelled. The relief corps of Jaime Ramirez Jr., Zach DeLeon and Garrett Egli combined to limit the Hairy Men to one run and two hits over 5 and 1/3 innings.
For Ramirez, a left-hander from Holy Cross High School, it might have been his best performance of the season. He worked 2 and 1/3 scoreless innings, giving up only one hit and walking one. Ramirez struck out three.
The Round Rock bullpen and defense cratered in the eighth inning, when the Chanclas scored four runs, and in the ninth, when they tallied six.
The Chanclas have won two straight against the Hairy Men leading into Sunday’s series finale in San Antonio at Wolff Stadium. Overall, they’ve won six of their last eight.
Before Saturday, life on the road had not been very good for the Chanclas in their first season in the Texas Collegiate League.
They had lost four of their first five road games, including two by shutout and one by a no-hitter/shutout, coming in a 5-0 loss Wednesday at Acadiana in Youngsville, La.
But, with the run-away victory at Dell Diamond, they seemed to break the spell, improving to 2-4 in games played away from home.
Notable
Both teams reported via Twitter immediately after the game a final score of 14-3. The box score on the Texas Collegiate League website reported it on Sunday afternoon as 15-3.
Runs-hits-errors
San Antonio 15 12 1
Round Rock 3 8 3
Please click the link for Saturday’s box score.
Records
San Antonio 6-4
Round Rock 6-5
Coming up
Round Rock at San Antonio, 7:05 p.m. Sunday.