by MARK CAUL
Lehman’s J.P. Flores tags out a runner attempting to steal during a recent game. The Lobos won two games at the Austin ISD tournament over the weekend and are set to open district play Friday at home against Manor. (Photo by Judy Cooper)
The Lehman Lobos baseball team entered the Austin ISD Invitational Tournament with a chance to get on track before the start of the district campaign.
Four games later, they emerged with a pair of wins and a little bit of confidence going into their district opener at Manor on Friday.
Riding the sizzling hot bat of senior Cesar Ornelas and the pitching of Orlando Banda and Nick Cerda, the Lobos were able to grind out wins over Austin Reagan and Austin LBJ before dropping a pair the following day to Austin Akins and Austin Lanier.
“We are still trying to find some consistency in our defensive play,” said Lehman head coach Toby Robinson. “You can’t beat too many people when you commit three or more errors in a game.”
The Lobos committed 13 errors in their four games in Austin.
The absence of star pitcher J.P. Flores also proved to hurt Lehman (4-8-1).
An ankle injury sidelined Flores for the tournament, which left the Lobos without their best pitcher and leader.
“It was pretty difficult to have to rely on guys that have not had a lot of varsity experience on the mound,” Robinson said. “But the guys who were out there battled and they will be better for the experience that they got this weekend.”
In their first match-up against Reagan, the Lobos led 2-1 before the Raiders scored two runs at the bottom of the third inning to take a short-lived 3-2 advantage.
That’s when Lehman’s Chris Tello doubled in three runs to ignite a five-run final inning as the Lobos pulled away for an 8-4 win.
Sophomore Nick Cerda struck out 12 batters in four innings of work to collect his first varsity win as a Lobo, while Banda secured the final three outs for Lehman to secure the save.
All-tournament selections Cesar Ornelas and Joey Hernandez each drove in a pair of runs in the Lobos 7-2 win over LBJ.
The final frame once again proved to be fruitful for Lehman as they piled up four runs late to pull away from the Jaguars.
Despite losing their next two games to Akins and Lanier, Robinson expects his bunch to regroup and be prepared to open 17-4A play with a healthy Flores expected to rejoin the team.
“We need to be better on defense and play the way we are capable of playing,” Robinson said. “The district will be very tough so we need to get off to a good start. We can’t afford to put ourselves in the situation we did last year to where we had to win every game towards the end to make the playoffs.”
