COPPERAS COVE — An in-season hiatus can sometimes cause rust to form for a team. Not so for the Temple Wildcats.

Nine days removed from its last action, a rejuvenated Temple jumped on Copperas Cove with six runs over the first two innings and rode the momentum to a key 6-1 victory in a District 12-6A game Friday night at Bulldawg Ballpark.

It gave the Wildcats (13-15, 4-6) their first back-to-back wins in league play and vaulted them a half-game ahead of Cove for fourth place. The top four teams in each district qualify for the playoffs.

Temple hosts the Bulldawgs (9-18-1, 4-7) on Tuesday to finish their two-game set then travels to Bryan to close the regular season next Friday. A Temple win Tuesday ends Cove’s season and sends the Wildcats to the playoffs.

If Cove wins, Temple will need to win at Bryan to set up a play-in game against the Bulldawgs for the final playoff spot.

The Wildcats cranked out nine hits off two Cove pitchers, three coming right off the bat when their first four batters reached to open the game as they took the early lead and held on from there behind the crafty pitching of Roman Rios, who scattered six hits, walked two and struck out two to pick up the win in 6 2/3 innings. Cisco Gonzalez needed just one pitch to record a fly out in the seventh to seal the win after relieving Rios.

Lezlie Jackson went 2-for-3 with a walk, two runs and three stolen bases to pace the Wildcats at the plate.

Jackson led off the game with a single, stole second and scored when Xavier Tools got caught in a rundown between first and second base following his four-pitch walk.

Gabe Flores and Parker Madsen followed with singles for Temple, but Copperas Cove’s Trent Sanders got back-to-back strikeouts to leave them stranded.

Sanders took the loss, giving up just two earned runs in five innings, and Louis Viera pitched two scoreless innings of relief for the Dawgs.

Cove put runners on second and third with no outs in the bottom half of the first, but Temple’s Gonzalez grabbed Jaxon Chaco’s liner to second base to cut the threat short.

Jackson was at it again to help the Cats to their big frame in the second.

The shortstop pulled a two-out double down the line in left to plate Anthony Ramos, who was hit by a pitch, for a 2-0 edge.

Tools and Flores followed with walks to load the bases, and Cove errors on the ensuing two plays led to the Wildcats expanding their cushion.

Madsen’s grounder to second base was mishandled by Gannon White, bringing home Jackson, after which Rios’ single to left cleared the bags when Micah Casson failed to grab it cleanly off a high bounce.

The hit brought home the last of four unearned runs in the innings and pushed Temple’s lead to 6-0.

A pair of diving catches — one from second baseman Gonzalez and another from Jackson at short — helped keep Cove off the board in the bottom of the frame despite two Bulldawgs singles.

Rios then worked around Daniel Izquierdo’s leadoff double in the third, which marked Cove’s only extra-base hit. Izquierdo dropped his long fly over the head of Temple’s Jacob Perez in left but Rios retired the next three Bulldawgs on a fly out and two ground outs.

The teams traded 1-2-3 ledgers in the fourth, the first time for each, as Sanders settled in for Cove and Rios kept hitters guessing with a mix of speeds.

Sanders caught Ramos looking at an outside fast ball to end Temple’s half in the fifth, marking the seventh straight Wildcat he sat down since a walk to Jackson in the third.

Rios (2-for-4, RBI, double) and Madsen (2-for-4, run) also had multiple hits for the Wildcats while Tools walked twice.

Izquierdo finished 2-for-4 and Casson 2-for-3 to lead Copperas Cove, which scored its run in the fifth when Chaco plated Casson with an infield single to deep short.

Cove has dropped four straight since a 13-7 win over Hutto on April 5.

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