Bulldogs chalk up two more wins

The Douglas Bulldogs chalked up two more wins last week running their win streak to seven straight games.

The Bulldogs beat Cienega 7-6 on April 17 at Douglas High School before shutting out the Buena Colts, coached by former Douglas Bulldog Johnny Bess, 10-0 two days later.

Against Buena, Bulldog pitcher Roy Aguirre hurled his second no-hitter in 14 days. Aguirre went all five innings, gave up no runs off no hits, fanned nine and walked two.

The Bulldogs struck first with a run in the bottom of the first as Jorge Escalante scored giving Douglas a 1-0 lead.

In the second Douglas erupted for seven runs off five hits increasing their lead to 8-0. Joey Urquijo and Aguirre each had two RBI triples in the rally.

In the third Xavier Altamirano’s two run single gave Douglas its 10-0 cushion.

Flirting with the no-hitter in the top of the fifth and two out Christian Dorame kept Aguirre’s no-hitter in tact when he made a diving catch at second base for the final out.

Alex Montano hit 2 for 2 this game. Altamirano was 2 for 3, Aguirre, Urquijo and Grant Watkins each were 1 for 2, Dorame and Escalante each were 1 for 3.

Bulldog baseball coach Gilbert Rojas said Aguirre had a very good game and had good command of all three of his pitches.

“I’m very pleased with effort from not only him but also our other players as well,” the coach said. “We’re trying to build some momentum going into the post season and this will help us.”

The game was the first time Bess had been back since taking over the Buena team two years ago.

“It’s always good to come back,” he said. “I have a lot of memories here.”

The coach said he has such a young team this year and Douglas is the more experienced and it showed on Thursday.

“Any other time I’d be pulling for them to win,” he said of his former team.

Bess said he’s “having a blast” coaching the Colts and looking ahead to next year he feels his pitching will be pretty much like Douglas’ is this year.

“A lot of these guys are going to get 30,40, 50 games over the summer which will pay off in the long run,” he said. “Last year we were 2-25 this year we are 9-14 and we still have a shot at getting double digit wins. … I’m proud of these kids for the most part they come in day in and day out and work hard.”

Against Cienega the Bulldogs, who lost the first game at Cienega 4-0, fell behind early once again as the Bobcats tagged Altamirano for a three run home run in the top of the first and then added a run in the second to go up 4-0.

Douglas added two runs in the second as Urquijo and Watkins scored cutting the Bobcats lead in half.

The Bulldogs close the lead to one in the fourth and Altamirano’s run off a Dorame double in the fifth tied the game at 4.

Aguirre and Urquijo each scored for Douglas in the sixth as the Dogs took a 6-4 lead.

Cienega tied the game in the top of the sixth before losing it in the bottom of the seventh on a bases loaded walk.

Aguirre, Watkins and Altamirano each hit 2 for 3 for Douglas. Urquijo, Dorame and Jason Sanez each were 2 for 4, Escalante was 1 for 5.

Coach Rojas said he was happy to see how his kids battled back after being down four early on.

The coach said this was a good win that will definitely help when the post season playoff pairings are announced.