Winslow’s opening east region baseball game didn’t go as well as hoped for Bulldog fans. Facing the Cougars in Show Low on Monday afternoon, the Bulldogs came up one run short in a 5-4 loss.
The Cougars broke a scoreless tie with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second. Winslow cut that margin in half with one run in the third frame. Show Low moved out to a 4-1 lead with two more runs in the fourth.
The Bulldogs mounted a challenge and tied the game at 4-4 with a three-run sixth inning. Show Low then edged in front with what turned out to be the winning run in the bottom of the sixth. Neither team scored in the seventh and final inning.
The Bulldogs out-hit Show Low with seven hits compared to six, but they committed five errors while the Cougars had only one.
Ricardo Villanueva pitched well in six innings, allowing just the five runs on only six hits with 10 strikeouts and walked only two of the 28 batters he faced.
At the plate Villanueva helped his cause by going 1 for 4 with a triple, an RBI and he scored one run. Brennan Sawyer was 1 for 4; Jacob Guerrero, 1 for 3; and Welden Gamber had the hot bat of the day going 3 for 3 with an RBI.
With the loss, Winslow dropped to 6-3 overall and they are now 4-2 in power point regular season games. They will play at Snowflake on Thursday, then step out of region play to host Monument Valley on Friday. On Monday back into the east they go with a key home contest against Blue Ridge.
