by MARK CAUL
Cesar Ornelas slides into second base safely during Lehman’s 10-4 victory over Lockhart Saturday. The Lobos clinched their first-ever playoff berth with the win and will take on Brenham at Texas State University on Thursday to begin a best-of-three series. (Photo by Judy Cooper)
It was a long, winding road to the baseball postseason for the Lehman Lobos.
Even the final out was an adventure as freshman catcher Joey Hernandez dropped strike three against Lockhart batter John Rubio and had to toss the ball down to first baseman Orlando Banda to secure the game’s final out and Lehman’s first-ever playoff berth in baseball in the school’s history with a 10-4 win over the Lions Saturday afternoon.
“It’s a great feeling to know you are finally going to get to do what you set out at the beginning of the season to do – make the playoffs,” Lehman head coach Toby Robinson said. “I couldn’t have asked for better deserving group of seniors. These guys have had a lot of ups and downs over the past four years, but this makes it all worth it.”
The Lobos will be making their splash into the playoffs as the district’s fourth-place team.
A best-of-three playoff series against District 18-4A champion Brenham will begin on Thursday night at Texas State University in San Marcos.
Game two will be played at Blinn College on Friday at 7 p.m. and both teams will do battle again at Blinn on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. in game three, if needed.
JP Flores secured the historic win on the mound for the Lobos, fanning eight while allowing only three hits.
“We just had to come out here and take it,” Flores said. “There’s no way we were going to lose this game. We knew what this win meant for this school. There were a lot of people depending on us and we didn’t want to let them down.”
Lehman could have clinched a berth with a loss against Lockhart if both Hays and San Marcos won on Saturday, but the Lobos took matters into their own hands against Lockhart.
Trailing 1-0, the Lobos exploded to score 10 runs to put the game out of reach early.
Sophomore Nick Cerda’s towering three-run shot over the left field wall highlighted a five-run third inning that also saw Cesar Ornelas triple in Max Soliz. Then, a few pitches later, Hernandez doubled in Ornelas.
“We were able to get a couple of timely hits to give us a little cushion early so the guys were able to relax a little bit more at the plate,” Robinson said. “We’re hitting the ball really well right now.”
The Lobos were able to add five more in the bottom of the fourth inning as Cerda, Chris Tello, Rudy Martinez and Flores each drove in runs with the Lobos sending eight men to the plate before Tello flew out to right field to end the rally.
Eight of Lehman’s starters had at least one hit in the game with Ornelas leading the way with a 4-for-4 afternoon.
Robinson will be relishing the opportunity to lead his troops into postseason battle for the first time in school history.
“I can’t say enough about the job these guys have done battling all year to get to this point,” said Robinson. “Now the key is for us to try and be competitive in this series.”
Lehman and Brenham had faced each other four times in the past couple of years in the Brenham Invitational Tournament just before the start of district play.
Oddly enough, Robinson opted not to participate in the event this season and as luck would have it, the Cubs will be a mystery to the Lobos.
“We don’t know a lot about them this season but they always have a good, well-coached squad and I don’t think this year will be any different,” said Robinson. “I’m hoping that our fans and students will come out and give these guys all the support they possibly can on Thursday night.”
