The Isotopes continue to push through the middle of the season with a home series against the Sugar Land Space Cowboys. The team played competitively, but ultimately lost the final three games of the series.
The game on June 9 started off in favor of the Space Cowboys – hitting a home run with the second batter up. The isotopes came back in the second inning. Cole Tucker hit a ball into the far right that sent Aaron Schunk home.
Schunk is one of the Isotopes most prominent hitters as of late – hitting .323 on 186 at bats. On June 11, Schunk said he will continue on to work on all parts of his game.
“I got to just keep working on my strengths with batting – with defense. I gotta work on learning all the possible tricks for infielding,” Shunk said.
Trevor Boone from the Isotopes secured a home run during the fourth inning to give the Isotopes 4-2 lead. It stayed this way until the sixth inning where Yonathan Daza homered, securing two more runs for the Isotopes. But the Space Cowboys were far from done.
The seventh inning started the comeback for the Cowboys.With a runner on base, Alex McKenna hit a home run and earned two runs. Then David Hensley also stepped up to plate and hit another home run – cutting into the Isotopes lead. It was followed with two pitching swaps from the Isotopes.
During the eighth inning, the bases were loaded for the Space Cowboys with McKenna up to bat. He tripped towards right field and sent all three of his teammates home, taking the lead. But before the inning closed out, Isotopes hitter, Jimmy Herron, hit a home run of his own – sending himself and another home, tying up the game 8-8.
The 9th inning saw no luck for the Isotopes as the Space Cowboys sent Joe Perez up to bat. He sent a ball far left and out of the park and secured the last two runs for the Cowboys. It was a disappointing loss for the Isotopes, but the Cowboys did make quite the comeback from the earlier half of the game. The final score was a 10-8 Isotopes loss.
Saturday’s game on June 10 didn’t turn out any better for the Isotopes. The second inning saw the Space Cowboys take an early lead that left a bad taste in Isotopes fans’ mouths. Shay Whitcomb of the Cowboys hit a homer and sent two runners home, scoring three runs in a single swing.
The following two innings saw no progress for either team. The score remained the same until the fifth. Sugar Land started the inning off strong with three runs, bumping their score to six runs by the end. The Isotopes finally saw a change in score when Jorge Alfaro hit the first home run for the Isotopes, sending himself and Tucker home.
The Space Cowboys would continue to rack in points throughout the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, finalizing their score at 9. The final score came out to a hard loss for the Isotopes, losing 9-3.
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Before Sunday’s game on June 11 – when asked about how the team can string some wins together – manager, Pedro Lopez, said it is about sticking to the grind of the season.
“We have to play solid in all regards – play our bases to the best of our ability and keep our mistakes to a minimum," Lopez said. "If we do that, we’ll get over this hump. We just have to push through right now and get past it.”
The first inning of Sunday’s game started alright for both teams. Tucker was able to score off of a hit by Alfaro, but the Space Cowboys would score two of their own. In the second, both teams would score two runs. The Isotopes were down 4-3.
The boys would go on to play their best, but the series still belonged to the Cowboys. The game ended with a close score: Isotopes 6, Sugar Land 7.
BillyJack Davidson is a freelance reporter at the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com.
BillyJack Davidson is a beat reporter at the Daily Lobo. He can be reached on Twitter @BillyJackDL
