An early outburst of offense from the Vista Ridge Rangers hurt the Hays Rebels in a 9-3 loss Friday at home.
The loss places Hays (14-9, 6-7) in a three-way tie with Westlake and Vandegrift for the final two playoff spots with a week left in the regular season.
Aidan Martinez took the mound for the Rebels to start the game. The visiting Rangers were able to get to him early, scoring a run on two hits in the opening inning.
Hays answered in the bottom of the second inning when Chase Ruston led off with a walk, and then stole second during the following at-bat.
While Uli Tovar was at the plate, a pitch got away from the Vista Ridge catcher, rolling back up the third base line. Ruston took advantage and came all the way from second base to score and tie the game at 1-1.
But Vista Ridge got the bats going and tallied seven unanswered runs over the next four innings.
Zane Lilljedahl took over on the mound for the Rebels in the fifth inning, effectively ending the night for Martinez.
Martinez went four innings and had two strikeouts while allowing five runs on ten hits.
Lilljedahl only pitched an inning and gave up two runs on two hits and recorded only one strikeout.
Going into the bottom of the sixth inning, the Rebels trailed 8-1 and sought some momentum.
Martinez, who was the designated hitter, led off the inning with a double. Andrew Cisneros came to the plate and quickly launched a two-run home run to left field to trim the Rangers lead down to 8-3.
Dean Gallagher took over for Hays in the seventh inning and struck out the first batter he faced. However, Vista ridge got to Gallagher and scored their ninth run of the game on an RBI double.
Hays closes the 2018 regular season against Vandegrift. Game one of the three game set is scheduled for Friday at Vandegrift High. Game two is set for 1 p.m. Saturday at Hays, with the third game scheduled for 7 p.m. at Hays.
