Due to STAAR testing earlier in the week, the Lehman Lobo baseball team played a Thursday night game against the Austin High Maroons.
The Lobos jumped out to an early lead but were quickly overcome by the Maroons and were never able to make up the difference in a 9-4 defeat.
Lehman got an early lead in the second inning when Zach Sendejo reached base on an error and eventually scored on a passed ball.
Austin High answered back with three runs of its own in the third inning. Nick Mendivil drove in five runs in the game, and two of them came on a two out single in the third.
Sendejo was on the mound for Lehman and retired his first eight batters of the game. The ninth batter he faced was about to be put out at first base when the sunlight played a factor and the first baseman bobbled the catch. All three runs in the third inning came with two outs.
Lehman head coach Toby Robinson understood how the sun casts shadows at that time of day, and that it can be a blessing and a curse.
“We were fortunate with the sun in the second inning when we scored a run, and we got hurt by it in the third,” said Robinson. “When you’re (Sendejo) six foot four, throwing to a guy much shorter than you who has the sun in his eyes, sometimes you lose sight of the ball.”
Lehman tied the game in the bottom half of the third when Dillion Ramirez hit an RBI-triple. Ramirez was brought in on the next at-bat by a Luis Jimenez sacrifice fly to center.
Austin added four more runs in the top of the fifth inning after a two-run RBI-double by Mendivil, and then an RBI-double to the wall by relief pitcher D.J. Limon.
Lehman continued to battle against the lefty Limon. Rylee Henderson led off with a single and was eventually brought home on Jimenez’s second sacrifice RBI.
A potential addition to the Lehman threat ended when Sendejo was called out at first base on a close throw from the shortstop.
Lehman utilized five pitchers in the game, attempting to figure out the Maroon lineup. Austin High, however, still hit the ball hard, no matter who was on the mound.
The Maroons put up their final two runs in the sixth inning, and Mendivil had his fifth RBI in the inning. Mendivil went 2 for 4 with five RBIs in the game and was just one of the many bright spots for the Maroons.
Lehman came back in the seventh, trying to make a last-inning rally but just couldn’t get the bat on the ball, and Austin High closed it out to win 9-4.
Coach Robinson said the team improved on some things and did not improve in others. He was happy with the way they hit the ball, but said they will look to keep improving in the games to come.
Coming up
Lehman hosts Akins at home on April 8. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m.
