Rex finalize one win, add another on Sunday vs. Aviators

On Sunday at Bob Warn Field, the Terre Haute Rex completed a game that was rain-suspended on June 21, beating Lafayette 7-5, and then topped the Aviators 7-3 in a seven-inning Prospect League nightcap.

The day’s outcome boosted the Rex’s season record to 12-15 overall. Terre Haute is also 2-0 in the second half of the summer wood-bat league’s schedule, and holds an early first-place position in the Eastern Conference’s Central Division. Lafayette fell to 17-12.

In Sunday’s second game, the Rex trailed 2-1 going into the bottom of the fourth inning. They rallied for three runs in the bottom half, thanks to Wally Diaz’s solo homer and then teammates Deakin Brinkley and Renn Harper scoring on Lafayette wild pitches for a 4-2 lead.

After the Aviators pulled to with 4-3 in the fifth, Terre Haute added a RBI double by Brinkley in the fifth and Bryson Carpenter’s two-run triple in the sixth.

On the mound, Terre Haute’s Grant Faris weathered the first 4 2/3 innings, yielding three earned runs while striking out three batters and walking four. Chase Rubenacker and Breyllin Suriel pitched the final 2 1/3 innings scorelessly.

Sunday’s completion of the suspended game capped nine active innings, with a seven-day intermission of sorts. Weather had stopped the matchup on June 21, with Terre Haute leading by the eventual 7-5 margin.

It featured Diaz’s RBI single to scored Giordany Mendoza with the go-ahead run in the third inning.

Terre Haute had fallen into an early 4-2 deficit, thanks to the Aviators’ four-run second inning. The Rex had tallied its first two runs on Mendoza getting hit by a pitch with the bases-loaded walk, followed by a bags-full walk to Diaz in the first.

The Rex secured the lead for good in the third. Mendoza’s two-run double tied the score at 4-4. Then Diaz’s single scored Mendoza to make it 5-4, and Brinkley added a two-run home run to left field for the final margin.

Faris, Terre Haute’s starter, went three innings with three strikeouts and three walks, before Jean Quezada took over. Quezada pitched the final six innings to get the win, with a pair of strikeouts and two walks, and now carries a 2-2 record.

The Rex totaled 11 hits, including three from Mendoza and two from Carpenter.