The Victoria Generals donned purple jerseys Thursday evening at Riverside Stadium as a tribute to the End Alzheimer’s cause. The Generals notched a convincing 11-5 victory over the Acadiana Cane Cutters and moved to 24-12 in Texas Collegiate League play.

The Generals pushed across the game’s first run in the bottom of the second. With runners on first and third and one out, first baseman Dante Turgeon hit a towering fly ball to left field for a sacrifice fly. Cleanup hitter Cole Tabor scored on the play to give Victoria a 1-0 lead.

Generals shortstop Diego Diaz recorded a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the third to make it 2-0.

“It was a first pitch changeup. In my first at-bat, the pitcher was throwing a lot of junk. Then he threw me a changeup on the first pitch in the next at-bat, and I just hit it in the hole,” Diaz said.  

Diaz then stole second and third base to record his 23rd and 24th stolen bases of the year. That set the table for Tarbor’s RBI single on a 3-1 count to pad Victoria’s lead to 3-0.

“I know I’m fast, so I know the catcher has to make a really good throw. If I get a good jump, I know I’m going to be safe most of the time,” Diaz said.

Cane evened the score at 3-3 with three runs in the fourth. With two earned runs already surrendered in the inning, Generals starting pitcher Brock Lambert issued a bases-loaded walk with two outs to tie the game. Still facing a bases-loaded situation, Lambert induced an inning-ending groundout to shortstop in the next at-bat to kill the rally. 

The game wasn’t tied for long. Victoria plated a pair of runs in the home half of the fourth. Centerfielder Caleb Cotton stepped into the batter’s box with one out and the bases loaded. On a 1-1 count, he laid down a bunt and bolted for first. Juan Cantua, Victoria’s lead runner at third, headed for the plate. 

The Cutters’ pitcher moved off the mound toward home plate to field the ball. By the time he collected the ball, all the runners were safe and no throw was made. In the next at-bat, Victoria’s Reece Lunsford hit a grounder to shortstop in what looked like a possible inning-ending double play. Cane recorded a force out at second base, but Lunsford beat out the throw to first to keep the inning alive. Turgeon scored on the RBI groundout and Victoria went ahead 5-3 on the scoreboard.

Cantua found the right center field gap for a one-out RBI double in the fifth to extend the Generals’ advantage to 6-3. In the seventh with the score 6-4 in favor of Victoria, Cantua blasted a three-run homer over the right field wall to give the Generals a 9-4 edge. 

It was just Cantua’s third game with Victoria, and his first home game at Riverside Stadium. The four-RBI effort in his home debut pleased him.

“It was amazing. I’ve been really looking forward to playing for the Generals. It’s really easy to have fun when there’s a community like this supporting you,” Cantua said. “It pushes you to go even a little bit harder than you’re used to going.”

Victoria scored two more runs in the inning to go up by seven runs. A run in the eighth by Cane concluded the evening’s scoring.

Lambert picked up the victory for Victoria and moved his record to 5-1. In four innings, he allowed three earned runs on three hits. The second game of the series with the Cutters is scheduled for Friday at 7 p.m. at Riverside Stadium.

Robert Brewer is a sports reporter for the Victoria Advocate. You can reach him at robert.brewer@vicad.com.