Edinburg closes within a game as Broncos fall, 5-3

By DENNIS SILVA II
LAREDO MORNING TIMES

The offense struggled and the pitching was good, but not quite good enough.

Same story, different day for the Laredo Broncos.

In what has become a terrible downfall at the most inopportune of times, the Broncos lost their ninth game in their last 11 tries by falling to the Alexandria Aces, 5-3, before a crowd of 1,146 at Veterans Field on Saturday night.

With their loss, and Edinburg’s 8-6 win over Harlingen, the Broncos’ grasp on the fourth and final playoff spot is down to one game.

Laredo stands at 29-33 while Edinburg is at 27-33.

Alexandria tallied its seventh consecutive win, and 12th in its last 13 games, and remained in first place at 39-23.

Laredo’s bats, lately, are colder than the Antarctic as the Broncos have tallied just 24 runs over their last six games.

On the mound, where the Broncos have surrendered 25 earned runs over the same span, Laredo was solid once again.

Right-handed starter Richard Bartlett (1-4), who had compiled a 15.7 ERA in his last four starts, was tagged with the loss after allowing three runs on six hits in 6 1/3 innings.

He struck out six and walked five.

Aces righty Robbie Wooley (2-1) earned the win, throwing 5 2/3 innings and allowing two runs on five hits.

He struck out five and walked four.

The Aces, who are 19-9 when scoring first, got another early lead on Selwyn Langaigne’s RBI double with two outs in the third inning.

Arnoldo Ponce answered with a sacrifice RBI to deep right field in the bottom of the inning.

The tie was put to rest in the fifth when Steven Wright, who had compiled four hits in his previous 23 at-bats, homered to left field with one out to put the Broncos ahead.

But Bartlett struggled in the sixth, showing poor control as he walked three to load the bases with two outs.

The Aces took advantage on Madison Edwards’ two-run single as they regained the lead, 3-2.
Alexandria padded its lead in the eighth on Rafael Ozuna’s RBI triple off right-handed reliever Dan Sausville before the Broncos added a run on Ivan Reyes’ RBI single in the bottom of the inning.

Bryan Sabatella scored on a Broncos error in the ninth to add insurance before Wayne Hedden sealed the win with his 11th save of the season.

The Broncos compiled three runs on nine hits to the Aces’ five runs on eight hits.
The teams conclude their four-game series today at 7:35 p.m.

BRONCO BITS: Broncos Manager Dan Shwam held a one-on-one meeting with a few players prior to Saturday’s contest to gauge opinions on the Broncos’ recent slide. Everything from poor work ethic to lack of effort on the field has been reasons of concern of late. Shwam met with players beginning around 4 p.m., and the meetings did not end until 7 p.m. … Broncos GM Jose Melendez said on Saturday that pitcher John Odom would not be returning to the Broncos. Odom, who was acquired from Calgary for 10 maple wood bats earlier this season, had spent the last month attending to family matters in Georgia. He started three games for the Broncos, acquiring a 0-1 record with a 6.10 ERA.