Charros Sweep Navojoa With 9-2 Win

Ben Kozlowski pitched 6 2/3 innings of 4 hit ball on the way to a 9-2 Charros victory over the Mayos de Navojoa. Jalisco swept the series to end the first half of the season at 21-14.

Kozlowski was followed by Antonio Garzon and Hugo Castellanos who preserved the win by holding the Mayos hitless over the final 2 1/3 innings.

Fernando Valenzuela led off the bottom of the 3rd for the Charros with a solo home run, his first of the year. Jesus Lopez then singled and took second on a wild pitch by the Navojoa starter, Irving Jimenez. Manny Rodriguez doubled to left to score Lopez for the 2-0 Jalisco lead.

Eduardo Arredondo drew a walk to lead off the 5th for the Charros and came around to score on Manny Rodriguez' fourth home run of the year, a two run shot to left. Leo Heras followed the home run with a double and scored on Japhet Amador's 2 run home run, his 10th of the year.

Navojoa, behind 6-0 entering the top of the 7th, loaded the bases on three straight singles. Carlos Bustamante grounded into a double play that scored John Lindsey with the first Mayo run. Alejandro Gonzalez singled to drive in Luis Fonseca with the second run of the inning to make the score 6-2 Charros.

Jalisco scored three times in the bottom of the 8th. Fernando Valenzuela singled to lead off. The Mayos went to reliever Gene Escat who threw a wild pitch that moved Valenzuela to second. Edson Garcia walked and Eduardo Arredondo singled to load the bases. Amadeo Zazueta grounded into a 4-2 fielder's choice that cut down Valenzuela at the plate. Leo Heras was safe on a throwing error by the Mayos third baseman that scored Arredono. Japhet Amador was intentionally walked and Marquez Smith hit a sac fly to center that scored Zazueta with the third run and the final 9-2 score.

Ben Kozlowski got the win to move to 1-2 on the year while Irving Jimenez took the loss to fall to 1-4 on the season.

Fernando Valenzuela was 3 for 3 on the night with a home run. Manny Rodriguez went 2 for 4 with a double, a home run and 3 RBIs. Japhet Amador had a home run and 2 RBIs in his four at bats. Brendan Harris was 2 for 4 and Leo Heras went 1 for 5 with a double, an RBI and a run scored. Rodriguez leads the league in doubles with 14. Amador is tied for the lead in home runs with 10 and leads the league in RBIs with 32.

The Charros end the first half of the season at 21-14. The Yaquis de Obregon team is the !st Half Champion with a 21-13  record, a half game ahead of the Charros.

Charros Take Game 2 From Aguilas 4-3

The Charros de Jalisco took game two of the three game series with Mexicali by a 4-3 score. Hugo Castallenos got the win to improve to 1-1 on the year. Brian Broderick pitched the final 1 ⅓ innings to pick up his 8th save of the year and lower his ERA to 0.69.

In the top of the 1st, with one out, Manny Rodriguez singled and went to second on a single by Leo Heras. After Japhet Amador popped out to first, Cory Vaughn walked to load the bases. Marquez Smith drew a 5 pitch walk to force in Rodriguez for the 1-0 Jalisco lead.

Luis Juarez doubled to lead off the bottom of the 2nd for the Aguilas. Juarez moved to third on a ground out by Xorge Carrillo. Jon Del Camp doubled to score Juarez. With Gil Velazquez up, Del Camp moved to third on a wild pitch. Velazquez then singled to plate Del Camp and Mexicali had taken the 2-1 lead.

The Aguilas would score again in the 3rd. Walter Ibarra waited out a walk. Dave Sappelt drew a four pitch walk to put runners at 1st and 2nd with no outs. Mike Jacobs grounded out 1-3 to move the runners up. Luis Juarez then grounded out to third to score Ibarra for the 3-1 Aguilas lead.

Eduardo Arredondo led off the top of the 5th for the Charros with a single. With two outs, Japhet Amador doubled to drive in Arredondo. Cory Vaughn followed with a double to left that scored Amador and the game was tied at 3.

The Charros would score what would be the winning run in the top of the 7th. Manny Rodriguez singled to lead off the inning and stole second. After the Aguilas pitcher, Mario Meza, caught Leo Heras looking at strike three for out number 1 and Japhet Amador to fly out to center, Cory Vaughn hit the 8th pitch he saw from Meza for a single that scored Rodriguez with the game winning run.

Manny Rodriguez went 2 for 5 with 2 runs scored, raising his batting average to .371 on the year. Cory Vaughn was 2 for 3 with 2 RBIs. Japhet Amador was 1 for 4 with a double and an RBI and Marquez Smith was 0 for 3 but had an RBI.

The Jalisco manager, Juan Navarrete, used 7 pitchers in the win. Murphy Smith started the game and went 3 innings, giving up all three runs on 4 hits while walking 2 and striking out 2. His ERA on the year stands at 11.25. Luis Rodriguez pitched 2 innings giving up 1 hit. Hugo Castallenos got the win with 1 inning pitched, striking out 2 of the three batters he faced and holding the Aguillas scoreless. Ivan Salas, Adrian Ramirez and Antonio Garzon were all credited with holds and Brian Broderick got the save, setting down the 4 batters he faced, striking out 2.

The Charros improved to 15-10 on the year. The Yaquis de Obregon lost to drop to 14-10, one half game behind the league leading Charros. With the loss to Jalisco, the Aguilas record is 13-12, two full games behind Jalisco.

The team that was leading the league on Tuesday morning, the Venados de Mazatlan, have lost 6 in a row and fall to 12-12 and 5th place in the Liga de Mexicana del Pacifico.

Jalisco and Mexicali play the rubber match of the series on Sunday night before the Charros travel to Hermosillo for three games beginning Tuesday the 11th of November.

Mexicali Tops Charros 6-5

The Charros de Jalisco traveled to Mexicali to take on the Aguilas for three games. The Charros entered the series 1/2 game behind the Yaquis de Obregon for the lead in the Liga de Mexicana del Pacifico. Jalisco lost to Mexicali 6-5 while Obregon was shutout by Hermosillo 3-0.

In the Charros game, Mexicali started the scoring in the 1st. Walter Ibarra led off with a triple and scored on a single by Dave Sappelt to take an early 1-0 lead.

Jalisco answered in the top of the 2nd. Japhet Amador led off the inning with his league leading 9th home run of the year to tie the score. Marquez Smith, who reached on a fielder's choice moved to second on a single by Gabriel Gutierrez. With two outs, Jose Felix walked to load the bases. Eduardo Arredondo walked to force in Smith and the Charros took the lead 2-1.

The Charros scored twice more in the 3rd on a Cory Vaughn home run that scored Leo Heras, who had led off the inning with a double, and Jalisco led 4-1.

The Aguilas struck back in the 4th. With two outs, Jon Del Campo singled to center and stole second. Ricardo Serrano doubled to score Del Campo. Ramon Urias followed with a single to score Serrano and the Mexicali team had pulled to within one at 4-3.

In the bottom of the 6th, the Aguilas lead off batter, Xorge Carrillo, doubled to left. Jon Del Campo reached on a ball hit back to the pitcher, Carlos Vazquez, who went to third in an attempt to get the lead runner but Carrillo made it back to second and the Aguilas had runners on first and second with no outs. Both runners moved up on a sacrifice bunt by Ricardo Serrano. Ken Sigman replaced Vazquez on the mound for Jalisco and got Ramon Urias to ground out to second. Jalisco manager, Juan Navarette, then brought in Antonio Garzon who gave up a 3 run home run to Chris Roberson and Mexicali had taken a 6-4 lead.

Jalisco threatened in the top of the 9th. Manny Rodriguez led off the inning with a double and moved to third on a wild pitch on a walk to Leo Heras by Aguilas' reliever, Francisco Rodriguez. Japhet Amador popped out to second and Cory Vaughn struck out swinging. Leo Heras stole second. With two outs, Marquez Smith hit a ground ball to third that scored Rodriguez. Heras, with the ball on the ground in front of him, decided to try and reach third. Heras was tagged out to end the game.

Manny Rodriguez was 2 for 5 with his league leading 12th double and a run scored while raising his batting average to .370, the best in the league. Japhet Amador went 1 for 4 with a home run while Cory Vaughn hit a home run with 2 RBIs, 2 walks and a run scored on a 1 for 3 night at the plate. Jesus Lopez went 1 for 3 and quietly raised his season's batting average to .329, 5th in the league.

Orlando Lara started the game for Jalisco and went 5 innings allowing 7 hits and 3 runs while striking out 3. His ERA increased to 2.50 on the year. Carlos Vazquez took the loss giving up 2 runs in 1/3 of an inning in the 6th. Antonio Garzon had a blown hold in the 6th allowing a home run to Chris Roberson. Manuel Flores pitched the 7th and 8th innings givng up just 1 hit to keep the Charros in the game.

The Charros record is now 14-10. With the loss to Hermosillo, Obregon falls to 14-9, 1/2 game in front of Jalisco for the league lead. Mexicali climbs to 13-11, a full game behind Jalisco and in third place in the league. The series between Jalisco and Mexicali continues tonight and Sunday before the Charros travel to Hermosillo to take on the Naranjeros for 3 games.