Taylor knew how important Thursday’s game against Seven Lakes was.

After a slow start to district, losing two against Cinco Ranch and following that up with a loss to Seven Lakes on Tuesday, the Mustangs needed to bounce back and find a way to get in the win column, they did just that by beating Seven Lakes 13-7 in an offensive slugfest where the Mustangs offense came alive with big innings to lead them past the Spartans.

“It was a really big win for us, especially for us to respond like that after dropping the game on Tuesday,” said Taylor head coach Russell Krenek. “Seven Lakes came out on fire Tuesday and we were able to make a game of it, but today we were able to put up a couple of crooked numbers offensively and it made a big difference for us in the game.”

It was a huge day for the Mustangs offense, but also balanced, as they didn’t depend on too many big hits and instead strung together singles and doubles along with walks, staying patient at the plate to earn 12 hits and seven walks to earn the win.

It was Seven Lakes that came out and struck first, scoring one in the first inning on an RBI single from Taylor Tite, and the Spartans added another in the second, as Miguel Acosta drove in a run on a single.
But Taylor started to heat up in the second, scoring one on a wild pitch before Davidenko Rodriguez tied the game on an RBI single. After not scoring in the third the Mustangs offense exploded in the fourth, they took the lead on a hit by pitch and added two more when Brett Dolejsi hit a single. Bryce Krenek opened things up after that with a two-run triple before Adam Fitzgerald made things 8-2 with a RBI single of his own.

“We do that a lot,” Delojsi said. “Sometimes we just have trouble scoring for a long time and then we just get a couple really big innings and turn around the game. It’s good that we can do that but at the same time we have to be more consistent on offense as well.”

Taylor added another in the sixth inning before scoring four more in the sixth inning. Seven Lakes tried to get back into things, but the deficit was too much to overcome.

 It was a strong day on the mound and at the plate for Taylor freshman Bryce Krenek, who had three RBIs which led the team along with Fitzgerald and also started and went nearly four innings, allowing two runs on five hits while striking out and walking five. Dylan Weaver was strong on the mound as well, pitching a clean seventh inning to seal the game.

The win propelled Taylor to 12-7-1 on the year and 1-3 in district play. And with a talented team that is starting to get players back from injury, the Mustangs still know they can compete to get in the playoff hunt.

“We had a good start today with this win, we needed that,” Fitzgerald said. “But we know this is a tight district, there were some really close games last night and we’re right there with everyone else in the district. We aren’t out of things at all, we just have to take this win and use it for a snowball effect. Biggest thing is to keep going and string some wins together.”