Latest close loss ends playoff hopes for SW

LUBBOCK — Sweetwater’s Brendin Atkins, the potential tying run, singled to lead off the seventh and got to third with two outs when consecutive batters moved him over by hitting infield grounders.

Once again there were no late heroics for the Mustangs, though, as Estacado held on to get a 5-4 victory that ended any playoff hope for Sweetwater.

It was the latest in a long string of agonizingly close defeats for the Mustangs as they dropped to 2-10 in district play with two games left in the season.

Lubbock Estacado improved its record to 7-5 and ended its own four-game losing skid. The Matadors, down 3-0 after Sweetwater scored three runs in its half of the third inning, rallied to lead 4-3 after four innings.

The Mustangs tied it up with a run in the top of the fifth, but the Mats scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the frame and held on for the victory.

After two scoreless frames the Mustangs opened up a 3-0 lead in the third.

A dropped third strike allowed Harrison Foster to reach and eventually score the first run on an Estacado error. Atkins, who singled, scored the second run on a wild pitch and Seth Garcia, who reached on a fielder’s choice, scored on a double play ground ball.

Sweetwater tied it 4-4 in the fifth as Darian Carr singled, stole second, moved to third on Ector Martinez’s single and scored on an error, but Estacade regained the lead on a leadoff walk, a two-out infield error and a passed ball to give the Mats a 5-4 lead. The Mustangs get another shot at 7 p.m. Friday when Sweetwater hosts Estacado.