CLEBURNE -- The Ryan Raiders thought they had their series with Cleburne wrapped up after Game 1. The Yellow Jackets had other ideas.

Ryan came out flat in Game 2 of its best-of-three series with Cleburne, coughing up a 5-1 loss on Friday in a lackluster performance where the Raiders had no answer for Cleburne pitcher Estefan Jimenez.

The loss forces the Raiders into a decisive Game 3 at 1 p.m. today at Saginaw High School in the Class 4A Region I area round.

“The baseball gods kind of frowned on us today,” said Ryan head coach Bret Warnack, who gave a fiery postgame speech to his players. “We hit some balls hard off the kid. We just happened to hit them right at some people. The ball didn’t bounce our way. We did some things that cost us as well.”

Jimenez didn’t blow Ryan’s batters away with his velocity, but he kept the Raiders off balance enough to give up just four hits. He mixed a handful of off-speed pitches that Ryan (26-6) looked helpless against.

“He kept us off balance pretty well all night,” Warnack said of Jimenez. “We just didn’t make the adjustment and play like we needed to.”

And while the Yellow Jackets didn’t light up Ryan starter Cord Jezek, they did enough against him to win the game despite Jezek’s 10 strikeouts in six innings of work.

Cleburne (28-9) got things started in the bottom of the third inning after Jose Martinez singled and outfielder Taylor Huff reached base on a throwing error. Leadoff hitter Ty Taylor knocked both runners in with a hard single, and Clayton Skoog followed with an RBI single to give the Yellow Jackets a 3-0 lead.

Skoog helped Cleburne extend its lead in the fifth when he hit another RBI single in the second at-bat of the inning. The Yellow Jackets made it 5-0 on a sacrifice fly. Skoog charged hard from third base, and the throw appeared to reach Ryan catcher Juan Gloria before Skoog made it to the plate, but he was called safe.

That was all the damage Cleburne needed to do against Jezek.

“He pitched a pretty good game,” Warnack said of Jezek. “They did a great job at the plate. They put some balls in play. They executed and were able to steal some bases to put some pressure on us. “

The Raiders didn’t get much going at the plate until Jimenez started to slip in the sixth inning when Ryan started the frame with the top of its batting order.

Ryan Salter walked, Zach Voight singled and Bubba Roddy was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Ryan with just one out. The Raiders couldn’t get much out of it however. Jezek hit a hard line drive that Cleburne shortstop Frankie Valdez snared out of the air, but he couldn’t connect at second base to end the inning, and Salter scored on the error to make it 5-1.

Will Klausing blasted a ball deep to right field on the next at-bat, but it fell short of the fence and ended Ryan’s best scoring threat.

The Raiders are now faced with the task of regrouping after a tough loss to keep their season alive.

“I feel confident in our kids,” Warnack said. “We’ve had our backs against the wall before. This isn’t any different. We’ll be ready to play tomorrow.”

JEFF ANDREWS can be reached at 940-566-6873. His e-mail address is jandrews@dentonrc.com.

Cleburne 5, Ryan 1

Ryan    000            001            0            --            1            4            2

Cleburne            003            020            x            --            5            7            2

WP – Estefan Jimenez. LP – Cord Jezek. Records: Ryan (26-6), Cleburne (28-9).