And the Wildcats couldn’t have picked a better night to do it.
Temple scored its first runs of the District 13-5A season - after a scoreless stretch that spanned 16 innings - in its 5-3 win against rival Belton on Wednesday night at Hallford Field.
The Wildcats (6-10 overall, 1-2 in 13-5A) came into the game averaging only three runs in their last 10 games.
But it’s not as if the Wildcats hadn’t been putting runners in scoring position. Temple simply couldn’t get them home.
“However we can do it, we just want to scratch a run together,” Temple coach Larry Haynes said. “It’s been hard for us and we finally did it tonight.”
Temple had six hits to go with its five runs, its best offensive performance since its last win nearly three weeks ago.
Against Belton (16-2, 2-1), it was the middle of the Wildcats’ lineup that did the most damage. Temple’s fourth, fifth and sixth hitters - Andrew Rayas, Adrian Rodriguez and Michael Lollman - were a combined 3-for-7 with four runs batted in and three walks.
Rayas had Temple’s hottest bat, going 2-for-3 with three RBI. He got the scoring started with a two-out, two-run single in the third.
“In past games, we couldn’t do that, we couldn’t score runners in scoring position,” Rayas said. “Today, we finally did that.”
Rayas’ second-inning single finally gave the Wildcats something to celebrate in 13-5A play, but more than anything it provided a much-needed boost.
“We hadn’t scored a run in two games and had scored few in a lot of games,” Haynes said. “It was a big confidence builder.”
Temple struggled offensively in its first two district games against two of 13-5A’s top teams, Bryan and College Station A&M Consoldiated. The Wildcats zero runs and just 10 hits in those two losses.
But even with a breakout performance at the plate, Temple still stranded seven baserunners. And the Wildcats certainly would have liked to have had those score as Belton cut into the lead in the seventh.
“We still left some runners on today; we’d like to score a few more,” Haynes said. “We’ve played some decent games; we just haven’t been able to put them all together and I think tonight we put a closer total team effort together.”
rschneider@temple-telegram.com
