Chihuahuas win playoff opener on the road against Reno

The El Paso Chihuahuas took game one of their best-of-five playoff series with Reno by a final of 3-1 Wednesday night.

The reigning Pacific Coast League champions fell behind 1-0 in the bottom of the 2nd when Reno’s Evan Marzilli was able to drive home Jack Reinheimer on a grounder. That would be the last run the Aces recorded in the game.

The Chihuahuas evened the score in the top of the 4th thanks to a solo home run from reigning PCL MVP Hunter Renfroe.

They would take the lead later in the 4th inning thanks to a Jose Rondon single that scored Nick Buss.

The Dogs then added an insurance run in the top of the 5th inning when Renfroe grounded out, allowing Travis Jankowski to score to give his team a 3-1 lead.

El Paso’s Franchy Cordero added a pair of doubles to help the Chihuahuas secure a 1-0 series lead.

The Chihuahuas and Aces will meet for game two Thursday at 8:05 p.m. MST in Reno before heading back to El Paso for the final three games of the series. Game three will take place on Friday at 7:05 p.m. with games four and five (if necessary) to take place on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. and Sunday at 6:05 p.m.

If the Chihuahuas are able to win the series, they would then face the winner of Colorado Springs and Memphis in the PCL championship series. Memphis took a 1-0 lead in that series with a 4-1 win over Colorado Springs Wednesday.

The winner of the PCL championship then meets the winner of the International League championship series to decide who wins the Triple-A national title.

Last year, the Chihuahuas fell in the Triple-A national title game to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre by a final of 3-1.