SOLEDAD — A road win and home win against the Carmel Padres moved the Soledad Aztec baseball team into first place in the Mission Trail Athletic League.
The Aztecs downed the Padres 5-2 on April 10 in Carmel and completed the season sweep with a 12-3 home victory on Friday in Soledad. The Aztecs improved to 8-1-1 in the MTAL and are broke into double digits in overall wins at 10-4-1. Carmel is in a second place tie with Pacific Grove at 7-3.
In the away game Soledad pitcher Andru Holguin won his fifth game and held the Padres to three hits and allowed just two runs while striking out three. Dylan Houpt took the loss for the Padres. Joseph Calderon and Isaac Lopez combined for basehits and two runs batted in. Aaron Rodriguez had a double with two RBIs and Ben Pajas had two basehits.
In the game on Friday the Aztecs broke open a 4-3 game with a five-run bottom of the third and three more runs in the bottom of the fourth. The Padres took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first but the Aztecs tied it with two runs of their own in their half of the first inning. Carmel regained the lead at 3-2 in the top of the second but Soledad took the lead for god with a two-run second inning. The Aztecs finished the game with 13 hits and were led by Isaac Lopez’s three hits. Joseph Calderon hit a double that produced three runs and Chris Villarreal and Ben Pajas had two hits apiece. Anthony Ramirez earned the pitching win for Soledad.
The first-place Aztecs hosted the Robert Louis Stevenson Pirates yesterday, play a non-league game at home tomorrow with Everett Alvarez and play the Pirates on Friday at Pebble Beach.
