Stallions fall short against Immanuel

REEDLEY — The Madera South Stallions baseball team took an early lead against Immanuel-Reedley in last week’s game, but it wasn’t enough in the end.

The Eagles put together a couple of explosive innings to come from behind and win, 10-5, in the Selma Greater Kiwanis Baseball Tournament.

“We just didn’t show up ready to go,” Madera South head coach Alan Sandoval said. “They scored all those runs and we never recovered from it.”

Madera South’s Anthony Gamiz scored the first run of the game to give his team a 1-0 lead in the top of the first.

With pitcher Jonathan Spraggins starting on the mound, the Stallions didn’t allow any runners on base in the bottom of the first.

Spraggins hit a double when he stepped up to the plate in the second inning, but the score remained 1-0 until the third inning. That’s when Gamiz and Aiden Sua tallied a pair of runs to give the Stallions a 3-0 lead.

Immanuel spoiled the party in the bottom of the third, responding with five runs.

Madera South’s Jorge Gutierrez then drove in a run in the top of the fourth to make the score 5-4.

With pitcher Joseph Cosio taking the mound in the bottom of the fourth, the Stallions appeared to cool down the Eagles.

The home team, however, started clicking again when Kaleb Brett drove in two runs in the bottom of the fifth. Bryan Malagon then took over the pitching duty for Madera South. But the Eagles capitalized on an error to bring in another run, making it 8-4. Immanuel tallied two more runs before the end of the inning.

The Stallions added one last run in the top of the sixth before the game was cut short due to time limit.

“We need to get healthy,” Sandoval said. “That’s not an excuse, but we 100 percent need to get healthy. We have guys playing out of position right now.”