By DENNIS SILVA II
LAREDO MORNING TIMES
The mood was desolate. The mannerisms were deflating. The night was silent.
And if the Broncos somehow do not qualify for the United League Baseball playoffs by finishing as one of the top two teams after the first half of the season, they will look back at this series against San Angelo and wonder what might have been.
The Broncos lost their second of three games against the Colts on Thursday night, falling 8-5 before a crowd of 1,024 at Veterans Field.
Against one of two teams which they are battling for second place, the Broncos’ offense – so solid all season long – never showed up for most of the game.
As a result, San Angelo improved to 20-16 for sole possession of second place.
Laredo (18-17) fell 1 ½ games behind San Angelo in the standings. It is tied with Alexandria for third place in ULB.
Thursday’s contest began like many for the Broncos, full of promise and potential.
The Broncos’ offense picked up right where it left off on Wednesday as Laredo took a 3-1 lead courtesy of a three-run, three-hit first inning.
After Steven Wright flew out and Anthony Bennett walked, Dwayne White boosted his hitting streak to 24 games with a RBI double, followed by Luany Sanchez’s RBI single.
After Santiago Guerrero singled, Matt Lawman’s sac RBI made it 3-1.
But Jose Torres drilled a two-run bomb with one out tied the game in the fourth inning.
It was an inning in which Broncos right-hander Andy Schon, who had suffered from a vicious stomach virus the night before, struggled greatly, surrendering four hits and allowing three of the first four batters he faced to reach base.
Those struggles continued in the next two innings.
After Aaron Cone drilled another two-run home run with one out in the fifth, Tyrone Pendergrass slapped a RBI single to right field in the sixth.
After Schon walked Bryan Frichter in the following at-bat, his night was done.
Schon (3-2) threw 5.2 innings, surrendering six runs (five earned) on 11 hits while striking out five and walking two.
The Colts would add two more runs as part of a three-hit ninth inning before Bennett’s RBI single with two outs in the inning finished the scoring.
Offensively, the Broncos managed little against Colts ace Luke Massetti.
Following his three-run, three hit first inning, Massetti (4-1) was dominant, retiring seven and five consecutive Broncos, respectively, at different points of the game.
He threw six innings, allowing three runs on five hits while striking out eight and walking one.
Right-hander Miliade Venas got his second save of the season.
The Colts compiled eight runs on 11 hits to the Broncos’ five runs on 10 hits.
BRONCO BITS: The Broncos will make up the June 6 contest against Amarillo which they led 12-11 in the ninth inning today at 7 p.m. before playing the first game of a three-game series against the Dillas following immediately afterward. In the June 6 contest, Arnoldo Ponce was up with a 1-1 count when the lights at the ballpark went out. The staff at Amarillo tried to get the lights back on, but all attempts were unsuccessful. The game was officially suspended at that point, with none of the stats counting until the game would be completed. The game following the makeup inning will be a seven-inning affair. … Catcher Josh Morrison entered Thursday’s game hitting .083 (2-for-24). He went 0-for-4 on Thursday, all strikeouts.
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