SAN ANTONIO- Warren Stehn went 4 for 4 and Bobby Orozco pitched his fourth complete game of the season but could not get a decision as the Wranglers moved into first place in the Texas Winter League with two games left to play.

 

WRANGLERS 10 - PERICOS 6

 

It is the time where players in the Texas Winter League feel they must make a statement.

 

It is the time where players may play hurt trying to prove their worth, or take a day off to heal an injury hoping to make a final push in the playoffs.

 

It is the time Warren Stehn went 4 for 4 to lead his team to victory.

 

Stehn, the Wranglers’ right fielder, was instrumental in a 4-run rally in the second inning by collecting his team’s first hit before scoring the tying run on a Jake Taylor 2-run double down the third base line that tied the score against spot starter Koya Iwasaki.

 

In the following frame, his single drove in Jack Morrow to give the Wranglers a 5-2 lead.

 

And in the seventh and final inning, his long triple to right field plated Matt Clark to give the Wranglers (7-4-2) their ninth run before he scored on Taylor’s sacrifice fly to conclude his team’s scoring.

 

Forgotten was his infield single in the top of the fifth where he tried to take second on an overthrow to first base, resulting in being thrown out at second. But even that hit advanced Morrow to third base, allowing him to score on Taylor’s double that made the score 8-2.

 

His manager, Brent Metheny, would like him to pull the ball a bit more to be a complete hitter. Only the infield single to shortstop resulted was pulled by the right-handed hitting outfielder.

 

But after hitting .423 in the Pecos League last year, Stehn is batting .415. Consider the statement made.

 

Stehn was not the only player who excelled in the Wranglers’ victory. Taylor doubled his RBI output for the season by driving in four runs, and Brandon Cowan (2-0) used a breaking ball with a sharp banana curve to strike out eight Pericos (6-5-2) in five innings to earn a victory.

 

Though he was touched for two runs in the first on a Matt Garza single and two more in the fifth when the Pericos’ Matt Garza hit a ground ball misplayed by Alamos’ shortstop Steve Taft to allow Jason Merjano to score and Will Chapman followed with a sacrifice fly to right field to score Thomas Shull, he was effective.

 

Cowan’s final numbers had him give up seven hits and walk three, but he was able to fan five in the first two innings. Reid Hoffler relieved the former Fort Worth Cats pitcher in the sixth and hurled the final two innings for the Alamos, giving up three hits and two runs, one earned, while fanning three and walking no one.

 

Eric Garcia continued his hot hitting with a 2-run double to right field to give the Wranglers’ a 4-2 lead in the second off Iwasaki (0-1) they would not relinquish.

 

Merjano had three hits for the Pericos while Garza added two and drove in three runs in defeat.

 

Nick Escobar appeared for the second time in TWL competition, allowing three runs and five hits with one walk and striking out three in four innings of relief for the Pericos.

 

ALAMOS 2 - CAPITALS 2

 

The deck is often stacked against Texas Winter League players. They often have already been picked over, and many don’t have what scouts call the “body type” to impress on first glance.

 

Such is the case for Alamos starter Bobby Orozco. Only 5-7, he throws strikes, but only in the low 80 mile per hour range.

 

But one thing Orozco can provide a potential suitor is innings. He proved this by completing his fourth game of the Texas Winter League season in a 2-2 tie against the Capitals on Saturday morning at the Missions Academy Field One.

 

Orozco allowed only four hits and no walks while striking out four. Though he hit the first batter of the game, Justin Girton, with a pitch and allowed the Caps’ second baseman to steal second before scoring on a soft Masanari Kato single off the glove of shortstop Mike Shada, he allowed no more earned runs for the rest of the game. The former Pecos Leaguer now leads the TWL in earned run average with an 0.72 mark and has allowed only 14 hits in 25 innings while walking three and striking out 16. His record is 2-0.

 

But that first inning run might have been enough for the Capitals (6-5-2) to win if it weren’t for the wildness of spot starter Mario Mendoza. A 2014 veteran of the TWL who used the league to pitch in the United League last season after hooking up the year before with the United League champion Edinburg Roadrunners as a position player off his play in the 2013 Texas Summer League, the left-hander hit the first batter he faced, Charles Shapiro, with a pitch and then advanced to second on a wild pitch. After advancing to third on a ground out, Shapiro scored on a pass ball on catcher Takahiro Kaneko before Andrew Carmadella singled to make the run earned.

 

In the third inning, Mendoza walked Rob Perrin to lead off the inning. Mendoza then committed a balk to put the Alamos (6-3-4) into scoring position before Carmadella collected an infield single. Perrin then would score on a wild pitch uncorked with Phil Rowland at the plate.

 

But the Caps tied the game in the fourth when Connor Battaglia’s sharp ground ball to third base went under the legs of Carmadella for a two base error. Brian Haggett followed with a single to right field to conclude the game’s scoring.

 

The Capitals put only two more runners on base in the game, but Kato was picked off first base following his second hit of the day to lead off the sixth inning and Greg Toliver, who was hit by a pitch and went to second on a ground ball, inexplicitly tried to steal third with two outs and was caught before Orozco even pitched the ball to Kaneko.

 

The Alamos also had their chances. In the fifth Carmadella reached on an error by shortstop Kato and went to second on a pinch hit single by Mike Stier, but was stranded when the next two hitters were put out by Mendoza.

 

Conrad Woolsey walked to lead off the bottom of the sixth and but was stranded at second after a Shintaro Yokata sacrifice when reliever Ken Iida got Shapiro and Shada to fly out, and Carmadella’s third hit of the game, a long one out double to left in the bottom of the seven, was wasted when Mike Stier flew to right and Rowland struck out to end the game.

 

Mendoza pitched five innings, allowing three hits, two runs, one earned, and walked five while striking out six. Iida pitched the final two innings and gave up one hit and a walk and fanned one.

 

The Alamos used regular Capitals catcher Shaun Perrin behind the plate due to the hamstring injury to Ben Boykin. The former College of Charleston backstop is not expected to play again in the TWL this season.

 

TEJANOS 6- APACHES 2

TEJANOS 8 - APACHES 3

 

Jamie Perez threw a three hitter in a complete game in the first game while Jeremy Hall and Hiroki Taniguchi combined to limit the Apaches in the second game as the Tejanos won the fourth time in their last five games in sweeping the Apaches, 6-2 and 8-3, in two five inning games.

 

Perez (2-1) did not allow an earned run and walked four while striking out two as the Tejanos scored in every inning except the first.

 

Noaki Hashimoto (0-2) pitched the first three innings for the Apaches but the former Cleveland farmhand gave up four runs, three earned, and two hits while walking two and striking out three. He was relieved by Yusuke Inoue, who gave up two runs, one earned, and struck out two while not walking a hitter in two innings.

 

The Tejanos’ Rob DiMascio, Atsuya Tokoh, and the Apaches Kori Melo had triples in the game. Tokoh scored two runs.

 

In the second game, the Tejanos (6-7) pushed across four fifth-inning runs off Hidekatsu Mitani to break open the contest and win, 8-3.

 

Hall (2-1) pitched two innings and allowed only one hit while striking out two and walking no one to earn the win, while Taniguchi earned his first save of the season with three innings of work, allowing three earned runs and fanning three batters.

 

David Blount (0-2) returned from injury to pitch two innings, allowing one run and three hits while striking out two before being relieved by Mitani.

 

Both Daiki Miyasaki and Dillon Sauers collected two hits in the victory, while the Apaches’ (3-10) Julius Gaines hit a triple for his first hit of the TWL season.

 

NOTE- Though the Texas Winter League is scheduled to play on Monday, the forecast may prohibit play on the final day of the year. If that is the case, and the games are not made up on Tuesday, then the Alamos and Wranglers will have clinched first round byes for the Texas Winter League playoffs, which start on Wednesday.

 

The playoffs will be a single elimination format where the first and second place teams receive byes. The third and sixth place teams and the fourth and fifth place teams will then play on Wednesday, with the lowest victorious seeds advancing to play the highest on Thursday’s semifinal round at Nelson Wolff Stadium.

 

Regardless of if the final games are played or not, the Apaches have clinched the sixth place seed. If tomorrow’s games are the final ones of the regular season, then the Tejanos have clinched fifth.

 

To determine tie breakers, remember in baseball ties are thrown out of the standings. Hence, 6-4-4 record would actually have a winning percentage of .600 (6/10), whereas a 7-5-2 record would have a winning percentage of .583 (7/12).

 

The Tejanos and Apaches will meet again at the Missions Academy Field One for the broadcast game at 11 a.m., while the Wranglers will play the Capitals. At 2 p.m. CST, the Alamos and Pericos play in the second game broadcast on texaswinterleague.com.

 

Since the Wranglers have a 3-0 record against the Pericos and a 2-1 record against the Capitals, they would win all tie breakers if the three teams finished with 7-5-2 records.

 

A potential tie in the standings between the Capitals and Pericos would favor the Capitals by virtue of their 1-0-1 record against the Pericos.

 

Of course, if play does occur on Monday or potentially Tuesday, currently scheduled to be a practice day, the Capitals and Pericos both have the ability to finish in one of the top two spots in the standings, and the Tejanos could finish in third with two victories and a Capitals loss or tie against the Wranglers tomorrow and two Pericos losses or a Pericos loss and tie on Sunday and Monday/Tuesday.