Chris Tello and the Lehman baseball team dominated Del Valle in non-district action after two straight 27-4A losses. The Lobos will try to get back on track in district play Friday vs. Alamo Heights. (Photo by Judy Cooper)
by MARK CAUL
Two of Lehman’s best players took it upon themselves to break the Lobos out of their two-game district slide.
Pitcher Justin Vajgert did it with his arm and scintillating shortstop Nick Cerda with his bat as the Lobos blanked Del Valle 7-0 Monday night at Lobo Field in non-district action.
Vajgert held the Cardinals to two hits and struck out seven in six innings of shutout work for Lehman High. Cerda went 2-for-3 at the plate including a towering two-run shot that gave the Lobos a comfortable 3-0 lead at the bottom of the sixth inning.
Hunter Lehman recorded the final three outs of the game for Lehman with a pair of strikeouts and a groundout to preserve the shutout in the seventh inning.
“This was a big win for us because it was a team we used to split with when they were in our district,” Lehman head coach Toby Robinson said. “I thought Vajgert came out and did a good job pitching for us and Cerda’s home run got us going offensively.”
The Lobos had a chance to score the first run of the game in the bottom of the first inning when Rudy Martinez singled and then moved over to second on Hunter Lehman’s fielders choice ground out.
But on the very next play, Cerda lined a drive into deep left field that was corralled by Julio Zamorano who then wheeled and unleashed a perfect strike to catcher Blake English to tag Martinez out at the plate.
Lehman did get on the board first at the bottom of the second inning when Hunter Lehman singled sharply up the middle to score Chris Tello from second and give the Lobos a 1-0 lead.
After failing to capitalize on a few scoring opportunities over the next three innings, the Lobos were finally able to extend their lead at the bottom of the fifth after Martinez drew a two-out walk from Del Valle starter Manuel Rubio.
Two pitches later, Cerda smashed the drive deep into the night for his sixth home run of the season.
“We haven’t done this in a while and it feels good,” Cerda said. “We’ve been waiting too long lately to score runs and it all starts in warm-ups. But we will get to where we want to be eventually and we’ll start to look like the Lehman Lobos we know.”
The Lobos added four more runs in the sixth inning as Xavier Solis, Jacob Urea and Cerda all drove in runs to close the door on the Cardinals.
Vajgert was in full command on the hill and worked his way masterfully out of jams in the second and fourth innings.
“I was dialed in tonight and when I’m feeling good on the mound it helps the rest of the team focus a little bit more,” Vajgert said. “We just have to keep working hard and try to get some wins.”
The Lobos had dropped their last two including a pair of district games to Smithson Valley and Canyon.
Lehman fell behind early at Smithson Valley and rallied late in a 7-4 loss.
Smithson Valley wasted no time getting on the board first at the bottom of the first when Kyle Jenkins and Will Blanchard smacked back-to-back doubles off of Lehman starter Justin Penney to give the Rangers an early 1-0 advantage.
With the Rangers leading 2-0 in the top of third inning, Cerda’s solo home run to deep left field cut the lead in half.
Smithson Valley answered back with three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to extend the lead to 5-1.
Rudy Martinez’s 3-run shot in the top of the fifth helped Lehman close the gap 5-4.
But the Rangers picked up a couple of insurance runs an inning later when Matt Hilston golfed a low pitch from Hunter Lehman into the seats for a two run homer to close out the scoring.
The Lobos return to district play on Friday night when they host Alamo Heights.
